CRITIQUE

Documentaries have had an excellent track record overall in the past few years. Aside from Michael Moore’s work, films like Spellbound and An Inconvenient Truth engage without a fictionalized story. This year, high school life finds its way in front of the lens. In it’s universality, American Teen captivates the audience with the interactions and events of a group of high school students, and though these are modern subjects, the themes are timeless.

Although social interactions seem to be the central focus of the lives of teenagers, in this examination of them, parental pressure is probably the single biggest force these five teens contend with. Mitch the “heartthrob” and Jake “the geek” don’t have their parents featured much at all but the rest of them are directly influenced by this relationship. Megan is desperate to get into Notre Dame because that is a family tradition, while Colin’s father (a part-time Elvis impersonator!) stresses repeatedly to his son that excellence on the basketball court will result in a college scholarship. Hannah’s parents, meanwhile, present an enormous roadblock toward her goal of moving to California for college. All this is relatable to not only the teens going through similar experiences now, but to those already past them into adulthood.

The other area seen in most detail here is the romantic lives of these five kids. Paradoxically, Jake is called a geek, though he has more girlfriends over the year than any of the other guys. (Though the poor guy does get cheated on.) Of the two girls, Megan, for all her popularity, doesn’t seem to have a boyfriend, and Hannah breaks up with a long-time love near the beginning of the year and misses so much school over it that she gets expelled for a short time. Later in the year, however, Mitch and Hannah spend a vast amount of time together. The connection between these two appears to be so genuine and full of potential that when he breaks up with her (by text message!) it comes as a blow to the audience as well. I know I won’t be the only viewer who hopes that a reunion might have occurred while the cast got together to promote the film.

It’s the personalities of the five teens chosen to be the focus of this documentary that draw us in, and it’s a credit to director Burstein that she chose so wisely. We will not only see ourselves in one of these people, but they are interesting as individuals as well. Jake is much cuter than he realizes, Megan as irritating as those types of girls usually are, and Colin a little bland, but they are all real. And Hannah speaks for a lot of us when she voices a desire to do something remarkable that gets left behind, to be remembered. Burstein also cleverly inserts animated sequences sparingly throughout, changed to match with each teen. Entertaining and interesting, American Teen does more than present part of the senior year of 5 teens- it examines the adolescent experience from a modern perspective.

THE VIDEO

Widescreen, ubiquitous and the best for home viewing, is the format here and especially complements this film, making the real-life feel larger than life. The transfer is free of problems, too, in picture and color.

THE AUDIO

The English track in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround is expected, and the format is excellent. The Spanish track is also in the same format, and there are English, Spanish, and French subtitles offered.

THE EXTRAS

Cast Interviews: Just over four minutes of interviews from the press junket for the film are featured in this extra. General questions about how the film came about and whether the cast is friends now are answered with the expected positive attitude and diplomacy.

Hannah Blogs: A large group of interview tidbits with Hannah make up this extra, and she covers her views on a lot of things, especially guys. It is adorable when she says the perfect-looking guy is Rupert Grint from the Harry Potter series.

Character trailers: Each of the 5 teens who figure most in this documentary are the subject of their own trailers for the film. This is a cool idea and they are well-edited. The one for “geek” Jake is a particular stand-out.

Deleted Scenes: Six scenes are included here. The viewer should know that a couple of these have sexual content, but it is nowhere near graphic. The kiss Jake shares in one of them has a LONG build-up, which feels quite authentic. Some good humor can be found here, too. Mitch lets friends Megan and another popular girl give him a face mask and asks that they don’t tell anyone about it. I guess he forgot the cameras recording their lives!

FINAL THOUGHTS

American Teen is fully engaging, well-directed and full of intriguing personalities and events that do complete justice to the high school experience. Timeless themes as well as humor and drama abound. Nice extra features add value to the purchase of this DVD as well. Even viewers who don’t particularly like documentaries may find that buying this one is preferable to renting. Whichever you do, seeing American Teen is something most people will not regret doing.