J. I. CUENCA meets the ‘stars’ of director NANETTE BURNSTEIN’s highly entertaining feature documentary, AMERICAN TEEN, a film that suggests every Hollywood teen movie is actually somehow based on a bizarre yet familiar reality…

A hit at this year’s Brisbane International Film Festival, American Teen is finally set to open widely in Australian cinemas. Ideally it will attract at least some of the audience more accustomed to enjoying films like Clueless and Mean Girls, as this fly on the wall documentary is as engaging and entertaining as any ‘fiction’ film produced by a major studio.

Warsaw Community High School, in Warsaw (Indiana) is a typical Midwestern American school, and the perfect location for producer and director Nanette Burstein (The Kid Stays In The Picture) to set her inquisitive cinematographic eye and deliver a fascinating, funny and moving documentary about the lives of five students during their senior year: Colin Clemens (the jock), Megan Krizmanich (the popular beauty queen), Jake Tusing (the nerdy geek), Hannah Bailey (the open-minded rebel) and Mitch Reinholt (the handsome heartthrob). And the result is American Teen, an entertaining and spontaneous x-ray of the challenges faced by teenagers in the American school system.

“Nanette decided to come to Warsaw the summer before our senior year and told us she was interested in making a movie,” remembers Mitch. “Then she left, but said she would get in touch with us, and she did! I think she picked our town because it was a diverse community with only one high school. She had a specific criteria and I believe we met it.” To which Megan adds: “I actually gave her the initial tour of Warsaw and got to know her and show her around, but I think we didn’t have any idea of what we were getting ourselves into.” “It just seemed at the time like something to do,” admits Jake, the shy and charming underdog of the group. “Warsaw is a small town and there is nothing really going on, most of the time. This was a fairly big event, and we thought that maybe it would be on TV someday, but we had no idea it would turn out to be a successful movie. So, I guess we did it for the lack of having anything better to do.”

Burstein spent the whole ten months of their final high school year following them around, and shot over 1,000 hours of footage that would finally be condensed in the 90 minutes that made it through the final cut. “It was kind of like a leap of faith to follow these kids around, because I never knew what was going to happen,” admits the filmmaker. “And I ended up capturing some incredible moments, but most days nothing interesting would take place.”

The greatest merit of American Teen was to stay true to itself and be a present and accurate reflection of what American high school really is today. “Yes, I am portrayed accurately,” admits the popular Megan. “That is exactly how I remember my senior year in high school, though obviously it is an extraction of everything that happened to me; but it is certainly very real.” And Jake agrees: “I think the film is very accurate and shows what high school is like. There is nothing in it that I would object to, because it is all true.” A thought confirmed by Colin, the basketball star of Warsaw Community High School: “I think Nanette did a great job in showing who I was too! I was that guy.” “Yes, that’s definitely me on the screen,” confesses Mitch, who dates Hannah for a short period of time (as can be seen on the screen), attracted to her uniqueness, although he ends up breaking up with her. “And, even though I don’t talk much in the movie, it tells my story.” A story that is not exempt from its inevitable painful moments. “What you see on screen is just me, hanging out and being myself,” says Hannah. “All those things really did happen to me. And my heart got broken twice! I guess that was good for the film, but not for me.”

But there is also a lot of humor in the film. “And that was important to me,” says Burstein. “As dramatic as high school is, it is also full of a lot of ridiculous moments, because we take ourselves so seriously at that age. Everything seems larger than life and so melodramatic then, and later you realize that it wasn’t that important.”

To achieve the authenticity that the film required, Nanette Burstein had to first win over the trust of these kids and ensure that what finally appeared on the screen wasn’t a performance, but the real expression of their everyday lives, with their ups and downs. “She gained my trust by talking to me, listening and giving me advice when the cameras were not around,” admits Hannah, one of the more free spirited and rebellious minds in the school, who makes the firm decision to abandon Warsaw and continue her life elsewhere, in a courageous pursuit of her dreams and ambitions. “And she was always clear about her intentions,” recalls Mitch. “Very early in the process she explained to us and our families that she was there to make a movie about our lives and not make us or Warsaw look bad, or throw anybody under the bus. That was very comforting, and you could tell that she genuinely cared about us and not just about her movie.”

A movie that would be presented in the Sundance Film Festival, quickly earning praise from the critics and the general public who saw in this honest documentary a true portrayal of that time in their lives, were adulthood is only a grasp away; but the insecurities, excitement and fears of being a teenager are still very present.

Inevitably, as all entertaining films do, American Teen awakens the audience’s curiosity towards the characters in it, which – being a documentary – leaves the public caring and wondering what has become of Hannah, Mitch, Colin, Jake and Megan. In Nanette Burstein’s words: “I think they have matured a lot after that year, and now worry less about what other people may think of them. Megan, for instance, has become a much nicer person, and a lot of her rage – due to feeling judged – has disappeared. And I believe you grow out of a lot of that fear of judgment in college and learn to develop empathy for other people, whereas in high school you are more self-absorbed. The film has an epilogue that briefly shows what happened to them after that year, and I guess I could have kept going, but the truth is that I just wanted to capture that moment in their lives. So, I have no idea of what will happen to them, but if I had to guess I would say that I imagine Hannah will become a creative and successful filmmaker or editor; Mitch, Megan and Colin will probably get married, have children and end up living happily in the Midwest; and I have no idea of where Jake is going to end up, because I think he has no idea himself of what he wants to do with his life!”

AMERICAN TEEN opens in cinemas Thursday Nov 20, rated M. www.americanteenthmovie.com

Be first to comment on this article

Write Comment
Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. Poster's IP addresses are logged.
Name:
Comment:
Code:*