The trailer suggests that Phillip Montgomery‘s ReGeneration, which Ryan Gosling produced and narrates, is a thoughtful and incisive portrait of the GenY malaise. The problem is that it was first seen two years ago at the Seattle Film Festival, which means it was probably completed in late ’09 or thereabouts. It might have been conceived and formulated by Montgomery earlier that year, or the work could have begun sometime in ’08. Documentaries can take a long while to get off the ground.

At its most current. therefore, ReGeneration might be, culturally speaking, an early Obama administration film, and if so then I’m sorry but no. Because the world has moved on in a thousand different ways. You can’t diddle around for two years waiting to release a film like this.

The ReGeneration talking heads include Howard Zinn (who died two years ago), Noam Chomsky, Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman, Adbusters Foundation’s Kalle Lasn, Talib Kweli and former MSNBC guy Tucker Carlson.