A documentary about the a group of high school seniors in small town Indiana, American Teen has been a big hit with audiences at both the Sundance and South By South West festivals. Film maker Nannette Burstein (Best documentary director at Sundance) follows four students from different social cliques- misfit, nerd, jock and student president- for ten months, trying to understand the universal human qualities and desires shared by these superficially different stereotypes. Insecurities, jealousies, puppy love and the enormity of making decisions about the future that will impact the remainders of their lives are delved into with heavy doses of both intimacy and humour. I guess all of this makes it kind of like a cross between The Breakfast Club and Laguna Beach. Vicarious teen angst, who could resist? Hey, it’s a whole lot easier than living through it.
I apologise, we feel bad, but there's no trailer available. ~Ed.
As docos go, this one's about as gritty as your average episode of Dawson's Creek. The people in it are all white, middle class, eloquent-ish suburbanites - real life Juno MacGuffs and Jim Levensteins living in relatively affluent Warsaw, Indiana. There are no black kids. There's no great poverty. One girl has to live with her Gran because of her mother's manic depression but elsewhere most of the family support networks are intact.
So, the prospect of this may sound a bit syrupy and superficial for some people's tastes, but Nanette Burstein's film is actually a quite charming experience. This may not be about the true hardship of life in the gutter but it really captures the small stuff that feels so big - first loves, break-ups, college decisions and that feeling of complete loneliness that comes with acne, or social awkwardness, or a really crap haircut.
You do have to suspend your disbelief a little to truly get into this. While it's clear this wasn't supposed to be 'earthy' - Burstein uses cool animation sequences to illustrate the protagonists passions and dreams, for instance - there are moments that if not staged for the cameras, must surely have been influenced by their presence. Occasionally these are so close to movie cliche it's hard to believe it wasn't all a set up (the director has been forced to deny as much).
But if you just sit back and enjoy it, American Teen has much to offer. It's no Hoop Dreams (superb 1994 high school basketball doc) but it is fun, engaging and very well put together. One more word of advice: don't rush out when the credits roll or you'll miss how it all turned out. And by then, you actually will care.
By Ashley Bird, Flicks.co.nz
The movie does get under your skin (the tremulous misfit girl, Hannah, might be a breakout role model), but the way it has been put together reminds me of those animal shows where the crew nudges the gazelles in the direction of the lions with multiple cameras standing by.
Reality TV, welcome to the multiplex. If "The Hills" went back to high school and developed wit, perception and a conscience, it might play something like Nanette Burstein's wallop of a doc.
Shows how a documentary can be as moving and suspenseful as the best narrative feature.
For all of its access and exposure, American Teen seems skin-deep. It's well shot, with good production values and lots of cool music. But it's fun and facile in much the same way reality TV is.
This is the kind of movie the people in it might have made, which means that its revelatory power as an investigation of teenage life in America is limited.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 27th Nov 2008.
Release date: November 27th 2008.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
