Sunday, September 6, 2009

American Teen

Cast : Hannah Bailey, Colin Clemens, Megan Krizmanich, Jake Tusing ,Mitch Reinholt
Director : Nannette Brastein

I have always been fascinated with American Culture. Not that i like it and want to be there. No such fantasies..the thing which intrigues me is their culture. No doubt America is the most developed country in the world and they are way ahead of us. I want to know things about why they are ahead. What is in their people or their education system that makes us better than us. ( I dnt claim that they are, but just going by facts and figures and observations). I wanted to watch American teen so that i can get lil bit insight in Teen’s mind of America so that i can understand what they think, how they have fun, what are their troubles and challenges in life?

American teen in a way does provide answer to these questions.

American Teen offers a slightly more realistic view of the pressures and personalities in a typical high school.
Filmed over a year in Warsaw, Indiana, it follows a group of seniors as they face life-changing decisions.
The movie talks about four characters and their aspirations and their troubles.

Hannah Bailey is a pretty, smart, unconventional girl. She is not part of the "in crowd" and lives with her grandmother because her mother is manic/depressive and her father works in another state. Hannah doesn't have a positive self-concept even though she is prettier and smarter than most of the high school girls. She wants to escape Indiana and the boring life she sees living there offers. Instead she wants to go to film school in California. She wants to make films that she will will remembered for long after she dies.

Colin Clemens is the son of a former star athlete, and he himself is now the star of the high school basketball team. His dad tells him they can't afford to send him to college without his getting a basketball scholarship. He has dreams of a college career with a "Final Four" appearance, and a pro contract with the Pacers.

Megan Krizmanich is a pretty, smart, and popular girl at school, and in a family with a long history of attending Notre Dame. Part of her drama is to see if she can get in, even though she gets into some trouble at school.

Jake Tusing is your typical geek, slightly shorter than most guys, with somewhat of a monotone delivery and acne. He plays in the band, longs for a girlfriend but has trouble finding a match. But he tries.

You have to see the DVD extras to get a glimpse of how this movie, part drama and part documentary, was made. A number of schools were scouted, and when this Indiana high school was chosen, a number of students were interviewed for the featured roles. Once chosen the students and their families and friends were filmed throughout the school year in typical situations. Footage of basketball games or marching band practice are clearly authentic, but some of the teen "scenes" seemed at least partly contrived, or perhaps "recreated". Nevertheless the sum of the whole makes very interesting viewing.


Rating :

* * *

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