Geek Jake Tusing works his oddball charm in award-winning documentary American Teen
Does spending a couple of hours with a bunch of teenagers sound like fun? It is when Nanette Burstein is your tour guide.
In American Teen, Burstein (whose resume includes The Kid Stays In The Picture, a highly underrated documentary about producer Robert Evans) tags along with four high school students from Warsaw, Indiana, during their graduation year. While it is a documentary — these kids are real people and so are their trials, triumphs and tribulations — you get the feeling the subjects were nudged a smidge to amp up the entertainment factor here and there. If Michael Moore can screw around with political facts, why can’t Burstein add a dash of The Hills to her flick?
The title American Teen immediately conjures the caricatures that countless teen comedies served up over the ’80s. Although John Hughes didn’t dream up this batch of angst-ridden youths, they do fit into the traditional predetermined categories; nerd, jock, princess and rebel. Jake, the geek, is so desperate for a girlfriend, his pimple-faced compulsive video-gamer awkwardness morphs into an odd kind of charm. Colin, a star basketball player, wrestles with the pressures put on by his dad, an Elvis impersonator. Megan, the prom queen, is smart, gorgeous and on the fast track to Notre Dame, but has a few buried issues behind those pretty eyes. Lastly, Hannah, a film-school wannabe, simply wants to ditch Warsaw as soon as possible, but winds up being the one getting dumped when her boyfriend breaks up with her.
On paper, it sounds dated and dopey. Because Burstein is able to intimately (and effortlessly, at that) acquaint herself with not only these kids but also their families and friends, though, a real connection is made. American Teen is funny, often engrossing and, at times, pretty darn scary, but it’s fun to hang out with this crowd.
Post Comment (Login or Register)