Nanette Burstein directed this documentary, which opens July 25th. She won the doc-directing award at this year's Sundance Festival.The filmmakers shot for about a year at a highschool in Warsaw, Indiana. What results is very nice and current portrait of American youth.
The story focuses on the senior year of five students that represent the 'caste' of any typical highschool: the jock, the princess, the dork, the artsy girl, and the all American guy. We get to follow the students through all of their dramas, from drinking way too much, heart-wrenching breakups, depression, big games, pranks and college admissions.
What Burstein (whose other non-fiction work involves young people) is great at, is getting her subjects to bare their souls to the camera. Everyone is so comfortable in front of the camera they they seem to lose any awareness of the camera. One can't deny the amount of pure emotion on the screen. It's something to behold.
Considering that this type of doc has been done before, American Teen is able to remain relevant because of the genuineness of the characters, and our ability to see a bit of each of us in all of them.
It's only flaw is that it lags a bit in the middle, and at times becomes melodramatic and a bit too constructed. With that being said, American Teen is worth your time, despite a terrible movie poster,.
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