American Teen
One of the brilliant posters for American Teen echoes the iconic poster for the movie The Breakfast Club, including its overly dramatic tagline. While “Heart-throb” Mitch seems a little shoe-horned into Judd Nelson’s “Criminal” position, the other leads in this film slide effortlessly into their pigeonholes…at first. It’s true that today’s teenagers are the most willing generation to document their own lives and embarrassments, but usually it involves them pretending at confidence and sexiness that they do not feel – rarely do we get the warts-and-all intimacy of a friend’s-eye view.
American Teen follows a few kids (mostly 4 of the 5: Hannah, Colin, Jake, and Megan; Mitch has a smaller presence) through their senior year in Warsaw, IN. They are all being confronted with their futures, their college hopes, and parental pressures, as well as social dynamics and personal Achilles heels. Their characters, for lack of a better descriptor, are so archetypal that some moments in the movie feel like narrative rather than documentary. Some of the film crew’s access is so intimate that the detached mind boggles at the invasion, at the unselfconsciousness of the subjects. This is not at all to accuse director Nanette Burstein of engineering anything. It is instead to praise the evident trust she engendered in her subjects and the naturally narrative interest of the universal experience of teenagerdom (and, OK, good editing). Our leads have life moments that echo the most salient ones from Valley Girl, Pretty in Pink, and The Breakfast Club. My audience intensely emotionally connected to this film, to being reminded of how well those films “got it” and how American teenage life still is what we remember.
Each classmate has a passing or better acquaintance with the others – but by and large this is no The Hills soap opera (like the aforementioned movies). In many ways, each of these students is very alone in their journey, despite the kids filling the frame with them, and despite the legions going through the exact same thing, alone as well.
Warsaw High School is portrayed as an obstacle course, made more difficult by a pervasive culture of low expectations (or low support of high expectations). The stultifying atmosphere of small-town resignation permeates even the pressure cookers of parental pressure. My audience was audibly responsive at the emotionally charged confessions by and events that befall our leads. Jake elicited more than one “awwww” from us, for a while – then more forehead slapping. Megan was less sympathetic, dug herself a deep hole, then crawled out of it, eliciting comment all around me. Colin seemed to have a path blazed for him, but had hidden pitfalls yet to negotiate. Mitch comes in late but finishes strong – we all know exactly who he is and we hope he becomes who he seems to want to be. Audience favorite Hannah rides a harrowing rollercoaster of misery and defiance, trying to escape the black hole of her limited upbringing.
Every one of our subjects had a sort of animation interlude, narrated by themselves and illustrating some of their hopes or fears. Black List created unique visions of the inner landscape of these teenagers, an interesting departure from the traditional found footage of a documentary but still truth. These segments power-loaded some great character depth in a short, stimulating burst that mitigated the weirdness of a talking head interview. Throughout the film, Michael Penn lays down a thoughtful and inobtrusive score. We are rewarded with a “where are they now” coda – our audience applauded our favorite with warm affection.
For these kids, surviving high school is just the beginning – breaking free to go to college or find their calling or escape their lifelong persona or discover the world outside one-high school-town Warsaw is the crux of their entwined arcs. Their varying degrees of social and coping skills, viewed by a room full of folks who have already passed those milestones (mostly), were painful and lovely to watch. We were on the edges of our seats, willing Jake not to ruin this moment with the girl, hoping Megan realizes her mistake, urging Hannah out of the car, cheering Colin’s game, nurturing Mitch’s discovery of just being yourself. It was a visceral ride through their lives. It’s beautifully done and intimately interesting. Definitely go see it.
MPAA Rating PG-13
Release date 8/8/08
Time in minutes 95
Director Nanette Burstein
Studio Paramount Vantage
