American Teen

“American Teen” is a simultaneously humorous and heartbreaking look at the challenges teenagers must overcome in their senior years of high school. This documentary, which earned director Nanette Burstein an award at the Sundance Film Festival, chronicles the lives of four students—the outcast artist Hannah, the earnest jock Colin, the bitchy blonde Megan, and the acne-ridden band-geek Jake—as they prepare to finish their high school careers in Warsaw, Indiana.

The heart of the film belongs to Hannah, who dreams about moving to Hollywood and making inspirational films—which is ironic, given that she is already the star of the film before us. Her goals of escaping a small town are relatable, and the familial troubles that haunt her broken life at home make her instantly sympathetic.

This is how “American Teen” moves beyond its updated “Breakfast Club” scenario. Burstein manages to escape the limitations that ensnare the social stereotypes she examines, crafting a wholly believable world in which typically overblown high school problems are carefully counterbalanced by issues that are far more serious.

Hannah lives with her grandmother because her mother has been diagnosed with severe depression, a sickness that Hannah fears may have been passed on to her after her boyfriend leaves her and she refuses to attend school. When Hannah’s mother tries to dissuade her from moving to California because she is not “special,” only the most stoic of audiences will not feel deeply moved by the obstacles this “ordinary” girl is determined to overcome.

Similarly, Megan, who truly earns her role as a bitch throughout the earlier parts of the film, is revealed to have experienced a serious family tragedy. The death of a loved one, and the regret that Megan feels in its aftermath, allows the audience to better appreciate why this diva acts the way she does and transforms the most repulsive character in the film into one of the most sympathetic.

Burstein edits the film together in a very balanced way, giving ample room for each student’s storyline to develop and interweaving animated sequences in which the students discuss their hopes and fears. These segments are aesthetically diverse, featuring different styles of computer animation that are specific to each subject keeping the respective storylines intact.

But “American Teen” is not without its problems. In choosing to focus on four students and their friends, Burstein sometimes confuses the overall chronology. In one particularly noticeable instance, Hannah is told that she must return to school the next day or she will be forced to repeat the year. The film then moves to Megan’s antics, in which she punishes one of her former friends by spreading a nude picture of her throughout the school. This sequence, which takes place over the course of several days, leaves one wondering what happened to Hannah. When the film finally moves back to her story, it seems that no time has passed.

In addition, the travails of geeky Jake are not at all engaging. While the other students in the film have inspired goals, such as earning a college scholarship or leaving Warsaw to pursue artistic interests, Jake’s only goal in life is meeting a girl. After seeing the way Jake treats himself and his friends, there’s no doubt as to why he’s eternally single.

Jake never develops as a character and never moves beyond his infuriating inferiority complex. The highlight of his portion of the film comes when he gets drunk with his brother, a sequence that is funny but lacks any dramatic punch. This was truly a wasted opportunity on Burstein’s part, as this storyline adds very little to the film.

These flaws, however, do not cripple “American Teen.” Burstein transports the viewer back to high school, opening a window into the lives of real people whose challenges are wholly relatable and whose demeanors are mostly engaging. In a cinematic landscape populated by critically acclaimed high school dramedies such as “Juno,” “American Teen” more than holds its own.