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American Teen [DVD]
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Format:DVD
Though billed as a documentary it's hard to know what exactly 'American Teen' is.
The film has far more in common with TV shows like MTV's 'Laguna Beach', 'The Hills' and 'The Real Orange County', which themselves are partially scripted and storylined pseudo documentaries, than conventional documentaries like 'American Movie', 'King Of Kong' or 'New York Doll'.
The five main students chronicled within the film are clichéd clones of characters plucked right out from an 80's John Hughes teen movie. The slickly filmed documentary footage appears to have been edited then re-edited in order to create artificial storylines which in turn cause a huge amount of continuity errors, in one scene the high school nerd 'Jacob' is seen having his hair cut by his girlfriend's mother who apologises for cutting it too short, in the next scene Jacob is dumped by his girlfriend but his hair is long again. In another scene a high school basketball game is played, but if you pay attention to the scoreboard the score is higher midway through than in the final minute of the match.
The subjects of the documentary also act and speak as if they are acting out pre-scripted scenes, no-one ever naturally glances at the camera or even acknowledges that they're being filmed, and subjects do ridiculously stupid things that no rational person would ever do on camera knowing that their actions were being filmed. An example of this is Megan, the bitchy queen bee of the school who circulates a topless photo of another female student who she dislikes to the entire school via email and then proceeds to make a series of offensive nuisance phone calls to the girl, which goes completely unpunished. After not getting her own way on the theme of the high school prom, the same girl then vandalises a male student's home by throwing toilet paper into his garden and spray painting a penis and a homophobic comment a window of his home, and this criminal act only gets a mild telling off from the high school vice-principal and condemnation from her father for getting caught.
Overall, 'American Teen' is a film which feels completely staged and fake, in which real high school teens are playing out pre-planned semi-scripted events which are later manipulated in the editing room by the director to form the documentary she wanted, and the end result is an experience which leaves you feeling somewhat cheated.
If you like mind numbing fodder like MTV's 'The Hills' they you probably will enjoy this, if you're a fan of real documentaries then give it a miss and rent the superb 'American Movie', 'King of Kong' or 'Billy The Kid' instead
The film has far more in common with TV shows like MTV's 'Laguna Beach', 'The Hills' and 'The Real Orange County', which themselves are partially scripted and storylined pseudo documentaries, than conventional documentaries like 'American Movie', 'King Of Kong' or 'New York Doll'.
The five main students chronicled within the film are clichéd clones of characters plucked right out from an 80's John Hughes teen movie. The slickly filmed documentary footage appears to have been edited then re-edited in order to create artificial storylines which in turn cause a huge amount of continuity errors, in one scene the high school nerd 'Jacob' is seen having his hair cut by his girlfriend's mother who apologises for cutting it too short, in the next scene Jacob is dumped by his girlfriend but his hair is long again. In another scene a high school basketball game is played, but if you pay attention to the scoreboard the score is higher midway through than in the final minute of the match.
The subjects of the documentary also act and speak as if they are acting out pre-scripted scenes, no-one ever naturally glances at the camera or even acknowledges that they're being filmed, and subjects do ridiculously stupid things that no rational person would ever do on camera knowing that their actions were being filmed. An example of this is Megan, the bitchy queen bee of the school who circulates a topless photo of another female student who she dislikes to the entire school via email and then proceeds to make a series of offensive nuisance phone calls to the girl, which goes completely unpunished. After not getting her own way on the theme of the high school prom, the same girl then vandalises a male student's home by throwing toilet paper into his garden and spray painting a penis and a homophobic comment a window of his home, and this criminal act only gets a mild telling off from the high school vice-principal and condemnation from her father for getting caught.
Overall, 'American Teen' is a film which feels completely staged and fake, in which real high school teens are playing out pre-planned semi-scripted events which are later manipulated in the editing room by the director to form the documentary she wanted, and the end result is an experience which leaves you feeling somewhat cheated.
If you like mind numbing fodder like MTV's 'The Hills' they you probably will enjoy this, if you're a fan of real documentaries then give it a miss and rent the superb 'American Movie', 'King of Kong' or 'Billy The Kid' instead
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
An American Teen follows the lives of 5 different teens; Hannah "the rebel" whos attitude and personality doesn't conform to the small town of Warsaw; Jake "the nerd" who likes to play video games and just wants girls to accept him; Colin "the jock" who is under pressure to get a basketball scholarship so he can go to college; Megan "the princess" who does anything to get her own way and Mitch "the hearthrob" who breaks the stereotype and dates a girl from a different clique.
I'll start off by saying, i'm not sure if this is 100% "real" in the sense that i'm sure certain parts of the film were set up so the cameras could film them dealing with certain situations; but in no way did i ever watch this and feel like they were acting. I liked the fact that once you get to know the "characters" you see the person beneath the label; Megan for example reveals a personal tragedy she had experienced, and as viewers we witness a very vulnerable side to her. Hannah, who's mother suffers from depression reveals her worries and fears about sucumbing to the same illness. I am British and i found it very interesting to see what an American high school was like; and it was strange remembering how petty things were in high school and makes you feel nostalgic.
Although the movie was really enjoyable to watch, there were some elements that i thought could be improved; i personally didn't like the short scenes that were transformed into cartoon; i felt like it wasn't appropriate for a film thats a documentary and therefore lost some of its realism. I also think the film would have benefitted by delving into certain cast members stories more thoroughly, such as Mitch who is only really featured as Hannah's new love interest and Colins basketball buddy. Another character i would like to have seen more of was Hannah's male best friend; who i am sure would have been another interesting character to follow.
Overall i would definately recommend this film, it's refreshing and i don't care what anyone says because i found it really honest too. I loved following these kids journeies and was sad when the credits rolled!
I'll start off by saying, i'm not sure if this is 100% "real" in the sense that i'm sure certain parts of the film were set up so the cameras could film them dealing with certain situations; but in no way did i ever watch this and feel like they were acting. I liked the fact that once you get to know the "characters" you see the person beneath the label; Megan for example reveals a personal tragedy she had experienced, and as viewers we witness a very vulnerable side to her. Hannah, who's mother suffers from depression reveals her worries and fears about sucumbing to the same illness. I am British and i found it very interesting to see what an American high school was like; and it was strange remembering how petty things were in high school and makes you feel nostalgic.
Although the movie was really enjoyable to watch, there were some elements that i thought could be improved; i personally didn't like the short scenes that were transformed into cartoon; i felt like it wasn't appropriate for a film thats a documentary and therefore lost some of its realism. I also think the film would have benefitted by delving into certain cast members stories more thoroughly, such as Mitch who is only really featured as Hannah's new love interest and Colins basketball buddy. Another character i would like to have seen more of was Hannah's male best friend; who i am sure would have been another interesting character to follow.
Overall i would definately recommend this film, it's refreshing and i don't care what anyone says because i found it really honest too. I loved following these kids journeies and was sad when the credits rolled!
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I think (like the other reviewer) that it was a mock-o-mentary, but it was very well made. I didn't get caught up in all the 'is it or isn't it real stuff' and just enjoyed it for what it was. The main students we followed were slightly cliched, but believeable, and I thought the film was endearing, and a good reminder that as well as being the best years of your life, they are also difficult years.
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