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High School Confidential
For me, Nanette Burstein's American Teen is too much of a hybrid to be called a "documentary." It's remarkably tight and clean and well-shaped. Almost too much so, it seems at times. Some of the dramatic "scenes" unfold so concisely and with such emotional clarity that it almost feels scripted. As if every so often Burstein had told the kids, "Cut! That was good...but once more with feeling." That never happened, everyone says. Teen was just heavily covered and edited. 1,200 hours of footage were cut into a 100-minute film. But still...
Teen is about five teenage seniors from Warsaw, Indiana -- a basketball jock (Colin Clemens), a rich blond bitch (Megan Krizmanich), a plucky-sensitive X-factor musician girl (Hannah Bailey), a geek-nerd with serious acne who wears a 1965 Beatle haircut (Jake Tusing) and a hunky, nice-guy jock with a sensitive side (Mitch Reinholt). It follows them through their final school year -- relationships, crises, family dramas, college plans. And it also takes us on a rewind tour of our own.
Sounds cliche-ish, right? Except American Teen breaks through all that by immersing us in all the essentials -- conflicts, hidden goblins, insecurities -- churning inside. And so you gradually forget about the slickness and start paying attention to the deep-down stuff.
I was kicked out of an American Teen screening during Sundance last January when I couldn't find a seat. But I had seen the first ten minutes' worth and didn't like it much. Too glitzy, too familiar, same old stuff. So I didn't feel too badly about having to leave. The trick is to get past those first ten minutes, because the movie does get better and deeper and more layered after that.
All high schools are composed of brutal societies with rigid caste systems. The result is that things are almost always awkward, difficult or at least unpleasant for anyone who marches to a slightly different drum. Only the jocks, the student-council dweebs and the pretty blondes seem to find any satisfaction or serenity. I was 85% miserable in my high school. I love it that many of the "stars" of my class are now kind of average, pudgy, diminished from what they seemed to be in their youth, pot-bellied, not up to very much. Hah!
Colin is the nice lanky basketball star with a John Kerry jawline who needs a scholarship to get into college. Hannah is an arty, free-spirited musician who wants to go to film school in one of the big cities. Megan is the dishy blonde with the haughty attitude who's called "the biggest bitch" in school by Hannah. Jake is an acne-plagued geek who has no girlfirend, doesn't run with a crowd and seems to have esteem issues. Mitch is a jocky fair-haired hunk with a sensitive side and a nice sense of humor.
They all go through tough times. Colin feels he has to be a superstar on the court in order to land that scholarship, which leads to the wrong on-court attitude and lots of inward perspiration. Dealing with a terrible family trauma and under much paternal pressure to get accepted by Notre Dame, Megan is shown to have inner anger issues, which are manifested early on in a stupid vandalism crime. Worried that she might inherit her mother's manic-depressive chemistry, Hannah loses it after a longtime boyfriend dumps her, and then she gets dumped again after hooking up with nice-guy Mitch. And poor self-denying Jake gets dumped by his first girlfriend, although his luck turns down the road.
Nanette Burstein
It's all good dramatic stuff and definitely absorbing, although, as mentioned, there's something about American Teen that just feels too polished. Despite assurances to the contrary, a suspicion lurks that portions of it may have been vaguely rigged on some level. Variety's Dennis Harvey mentioned a moment when "the camera catches two future sweethearts making eyes at each other in a crowded room, before they've even met." And why isn't anyone getting high? Everybody turns on in high school, right?
I liked, however, the animated sequences that dramatize the kids' innermost fears and desires. This is a pretty good way of conveying how high-school kids really feel about their personal dramas. The sense of drama is very acute at that age. Teen is definitely worth catching this weekend. It's worth catching, period. It's a full-meal movie.
The student crowd I saw it with at USC last week were chuckling and "ah-hah"-ing from time to time. A couple of girls sitting near me gasped in shock when Hannah's mother, who comes off as easily the least nurturing parent in the film, says to her "you're not special" and does everything she can to talk her out of going to San Francisco in order to follow her dream. Hannah knows who she is and hates the idea of living a life of caution and limits in Indiana, and yet her mom can only talk about the risks and the pitfalls of the big scary world out there. All parents of creative people say this to their kids. Be practical, play it safe, have a back-up plan in case you fail. My parents said this to me. This is why I related to Hannah the most.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 21, 2008 at 4:56 PM
comment #1
breadlymoore says ...
"a suspicion lurks that it may have been vaguely rigged on some level."
Oh, come on, Jeff. You're smarter than that.
The film is the big screen HILLS - completely rigged, trying to pass itself off as reality. The too-covered coverage and Frankenstein editing should tell you that.
It's all a sham, even if it started out with truthful intentions.
Posted by breadlymoore at July 21, 2008 7:30 PM
comment #2
Jeffrey Kunze says ...
Didn't even read the posting, just saw the photograph and felt the following:
OMG BARF.
I could never associate with The Breakfast Club, or John Huges in general, because of the awful, pity-me-gently characters/characterizations. Some would call them humanly flawed, but not this horse. Fact is, they just sucked.
And I would rather be subjected to the tortures of Saw and Hostel than ever watch American Teen. You'd have to Clockword Orange me to watch it.
Posted by Jeffrey Kunze at July 21, 2008 7:40 PM
comment #3
renorambler says ...
I'm a high school teacher so I must admit I feel some inclination to see this. Partially out of professional duty because I'm sure some of my students will see it this summer. As a side note, after many years of being away from high school, I'm surprised to see that it is not nearly as segregated in terms of cliques as it was when I was in school (i was at least 85% miserable myself). Much more sliding between groups occurs. Star athletes are in plays, artist "geeks" also might be on student council, and even many of the wallflowers seem to be involved in at least some of the over 50 social/academic clubs at our school. School has changed.
I'm wondering if the references to the Breakfast Club are going to help sell this film though? Many people don't feel too warm and fuzzy about these trite Hughes films.
Posted by renorambler at July 21, 2008 8:23 PM
comment #4
actionman says ...
I didn't turn on in high school. College for that stuff.
Was never a fan of The Breakfast Club to be honest...but this one looks worth a Netflixing.
Posted by actionman at July 21, 2008 8:23 PM
comment #5
D.Z. says ...
"And why isn't anyone getting high? Everybody turns on in high school, right?"
Then it wouldn't be PG-13.
"I love it that many of the "stars" of my class are now kind of average, pudgy, diminished from what they seemed to be in their youth, pot-bellied, not up to very much."
I'm still bitter, since the converse of Adam Carolla's saying, "Winner in high school, loser in life", didn't apply to me. But then high school actually prepared people for the real world, back when Jeff was attending it...Or maybe I'm just pissed that the I grew up back when scumbags like Bush would be considered role models to my peers.
"Dealing with a terrible family trauma and under much paternal pressure to get accepted by Notre Dame, Megan is shown to have inner anger issues, which are manifested early on in a stupid vandalism crime. Worried that she might inherit her mother's manic-depressive chemistry, Hannah loses it after a longtime boyfriend dumps her, and then she gets dumped again after hooking up with nice-guy Mitch."
Bull. The first guy would take advantage of her weakness to score, while the second guy would be the one she'd manipulate to feel better until she could find another Alpha Male.
Jeffrey: I didn't hate TBC, but it's not something I loved, either. But then Judd Nelson's the only redeemable character in the film, and everyone else is annoying.
Posted by D.Z. at July 21, 2008 8:50 PM
comment #6
Jack Price says ...
Jeff, I was at a brunch with these five former teens a little less than two weeks ago, back when they were doing press in Austin. Even in spite of the awkward speed dating-esque format (they had to rotate tables every ten minutes), they all seemed very warm and honest. I got a huge kick out of getting to converse with all of them, especially since age-wise we're not that far apart. But to support your intuition, I definitely got a sense from each one of them that the film is certainly more of a "movie" disguising itself as a documentary.
Meghan in particular had some very interesting things to say regarding the true context behind many of her scenes. In her own words, she said that the "love triangle" the film depicted between herself, Jeff and her best friend was completely fabricated. Particularly the moment where the film makes it appear that Meghan loses it when she sees Jeff and her friend together, her side of the story was that the opposite was true: Jeff actually harbored deeper feelings towards her (Meghan) for quite some time. I could be misremembering this detail, but I think the argument came about because Meghan felt Jeff was using her friend to get back at her. How much of this was manufactured drama versus a legitimate interpretation of what was most accurate from the filmmaker's perspective, I couldn't say.
However, in other cases I could tell just while watching the film that significant details were being expunged for the sake of creating a false sense of drama, a good amount of footage was completely edited out of context (particularly during the mass-email forwarding of the nude picture; there were also a few moments where I noticed a character's hair change color in the span of the same "scene") and sometimes the information we did get was only there to reaffirm these kids as indicative of a certain "type." The fact that the film never makes any mention of Hannah getting kicked out of school was startling, though another part of me could see how the director might justify the moment where she's speaking with the principal about missed classes as sufficient enough considering the need for a tolerable run-time.
Something I found a little more troubling was the confirmation from Jake that the filmmakers actually superimposed a different game over his TV screen. I mean, I was okay with the animated sequences (not ecstatic, as they mostly seemed to exist solely to cement each teen's role as the "Jock," the "art freak," etc.) but when something like that is changed for the sake of seeming more "up-to-date" I seriously question the filmmaker's motives.
I'll be interested to see how this story develops as the film continues to roll out and more people see it. This is definitely a work of craft and storytelling above all else, and I wish it wasn't being sold as some sort of accurate portrayal of what modern-day life as a teenager in middle-class America is like.
Posted by Jack Price at July 21, 2008 10:03 PM
comment #7
D.Z. says ...
Jack: "This is definitely a work of craft and storytelling above all else, and I wish it wasn't being sold as some sort of accurate portrayal of what modern-day life as a teenager in middle-class America is like."
If the filmmakers went that direction, then the kids would be dropping out of school, while their parents would be laid off, and forced to take the same minimum wage jobs as their brood.
Posted by D.Z. at July 21, 2008 10:16 PM
comment #8
Jack Price says ...
I agree with the Variety review 100%. I've struggled to review this film ever since I saw it, but he absolutely NAILS my grievances with it.
And it reaffirmed my agitation that Hannah flunking out of school was never even addressed.
Posted by Jack Price at July 21, 2008 10:21 PM
comment #9
Rich S. says ...
I wonder if the four in the poster have any inkling what a curse on their careers that Breakfast Club comparison invites. Do you think the girl in the front will be happy playing a pregnant teen's mom in an ABC Family show in 25 years?
Posted by Rich S. at July 22, 2008 5:48 AM
comment #10
Vitesse98 says ...
The first time I'd ever heard of this film was when I saw the trailer, and watching that I had no idea whether it was a doc or fiction, for many of the reasons Jeff notes. The timing just seemed too perfect, the beats too on. Frederick Wiseman territory this is not, let alone the truly great RJ "War Room" Cutler doc "American High" that showed on PBS back in 2000-2001 and won an Emmy.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0254888/
Posted by Vitesse98 at July 22, 2008 9:35 AM
comment #11
Arizona Joe says ...
"All parents of creative people say this to their kids. Be practical, play it safe, have a back-up plan in case you fail."
Well, that's a lot nicer than, "You'll be a complete failure. You're facing disaster. The only creative thing you'll ever do is move your bowels. Forget all that, and do as I say."
Posted by Arizona Joe at July 22, 2008 2:09 PM
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