If you had to guess what High School John Hughes attended, Warsaw Community High School would probably be it. The Indiana high school plays host to a colorful group of students that symbolize today’s “American Teen.” So do these “Hughes” students really exist or are they altercations of iconic characters to get moviegoers in the seats? Surprisingly enough the Paramount Vantage marketing team couldn’t get these teens closer to their “Brat Pack” heritage.
Oscar nominated documenter, Nanette Burstein (On the Ropes), follows the dramatics of five socially separate ,yet, symbiotic high school students. The film was shot over a ten month period. Even though this might sound like ordinary MTV fluff, Burstein takes the tired concept turns it on its head, making the flick remarkably fresh.
Burstein is able to over come the MTV pantomiming by construing a nice fluid and organized pace. Burstein takes the idea of showing how her subjects are the products of their environment focusing firstly on the environment in which these teens interact with. Once we feel comfortable with the location, the characters allow us time to make opinions on which we like and dislike each character. As the film goes on you see a certain genuine growth as each subject comes forth with their often surprising revelations. Each student grows in front of the camera and most of the time they don’t even know it themselves.
(Spoilers) On a personal level I fell in love with most of the characters but one stands out from the rest. Hannah Bailey aka The Rebel is the Heart and Soul of the film. Her story sucks us in from beginning and makes us clap at the end. She is not just a rebel from her school but from the world she is forced to live in. She doesn’t try to be different and stick out so that the cameras catch something crazy every second, but instead makes us realize why she chooses to be so idiosyncratic. Hannah knows she doesn’t fit in and wants out from the place that we are forced to live in during the film. Her dream is to go to California and study film, but her family wants her to stay in line with the crowd she despises. At one point she breaks down and stops going to school because of the fear of seeing her ex-boyfriend. And then an hour later she seems on the top of world fighting her parents to pursue her dream. (End of spoilers)
I know that most people sometime need to be in the mood for a documentary, but this film will totally get you entrapped within its theme. Even if you just think you’ll relate to one characters going in, you’ll come out seeing anther person in that clique having more similarities then differences. And unlike most film’s that get great reviews from Sundance and then perform well below that level, I feel that this can crossover. If you go on with an open mind you should come out with a smile, and at this time maybe more “American Teens” need to stop worrying about life and just smile. (contd...)
(Released June 25th in Limited Theaters)
-Evan Rosenberg
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