the finer dandy

Here’s a little article write up I did with the kids from “American Teen” - it’s less bloggy and more magazine-like

In the Sundance Film Festival hit, American Teen, Academy Award nominated director Nanette Burstein documents the life of five teenagers in Middle America with an honest grit that is a far cry from the trivial nonsense of “The Hills.”

Following the formula from John Hughes’ classic story of teen angst, “The Breakfast Club,” Burstein takes us into the lives of a jock (Colin), a popular girl (Megan), a heartthrob (Mitch), a geek (Jake) and an artsy girl (Hannah).

In a recent interview with the documentary specimens, I sat at a round table with four of the five teens (Hannah couldn’t make it, but I got answers from her later). As they nursed Starbucks lattes and tossed around a novelty “Space Chimps” inflatable beach ball, I wondered why these kids from the small town of Warsaw, Indiana wanted to be a part of this project.

The queen of the Warsaw Community High School: Megan Krizmanich

“I didn’t want to do it at all,” says Megan, who gave Burstein a tour of the town on her initial visit. “I was a little hesitant about having my final year in high school (filmed). But I watched her other films, got to know her and jumped on the bandwagon.”

Ultimately, it was the boredom of their “bubble” town that made them want to have their final year of high school documented on film.

“When something this big comes along, you obviously want to take the opportunity,” says Jake, who now has a crew cut as opposed to his shaggy ‘do in the movie. “This was something exciting.”

The band nerd: Jake Tusing

Unlike the debauchery and drunken romps had on reality shows, Burstein’s documentary brings a grounded vision to the lives of normal teenagers. Each have their own story that prove to be universal. Colin is the basketball golden boy, hounded by his Elvis impersonating dad to get a scholarship. Although Megan is the most popular girl in school, she is anxious to get an acceptance (or rejection) letter from University of Notre Dame University and while doing so, she causes some “mean girl” trouble to pass the time. The charming Mitch crosses social status boundaries and while doing so, he discovers an interesting side to himself. Jake, the awkwardly endearing nerd, just wants to have confidence and a girlfriend. As for Hannah, she just wants to get the hell out of Warsaw.

The ultimate midwest heartthrob: Mitch Reinholt

Now in college, the five teens reflect back on their senior year in high school with a film that Mitch referred to as a “living yearbook.”

“I thought it would be a good experience – something I could show my grand kids,” says Mitch, who is much taller in person and is the epitome of the All-American boy. “The more we got to know Nanette, the more comfortable we were. And the more comfortable we were on camera, the more fun we had.”

As we continued to talk, we digressed. Colin, Jake and I got into a deep discussion about “The Dark Knight,” Megan giggled at the way my southern twang came out when I said “y’all” and Mitch shared his affection for dressing in dinosaur costumes.

After getting on track, I asked them what other role in the film they would’ve liked to embody. Mitch and Megan wouldn’t mind having the free spirit of Hannah and Jake wanted to walk in Colin’s shoes as a popular star athlete. But Colin decided to take a different route.

The basketball star: Colin Clemens (center)

“I would like to be Jake in the sense that I would rather not be noticed,” as Colin says this, he apologizes to Jake, hoping he doesn’t take it the wrong way. “I’ve been in the spotlight because of basketball. It would be nice just to walk around and not have people talk to you all the time.”

Later on that week, I got the privilege of hearing from Hannah with her answer via email.

“Watching the movie, I found that I have at least one thing in common with every other kid in the movie,” says the creative rebel. “I can be a hardass like Megan, a geek like Jake, romantic like Mitch, and sometimes I can be a real jokester, like Colin. The great thing about the movie is (that) everyone can find a little bit of each us inside them.”

The artsy one: Hannah Bailey

The five remain friends to this day and plan on continuing their BFF for years to come – but that doesn’t mean that some of them have regrets about their actions in the movie. The biggest regret is from Mitch in regards to a “techie” way he ended a relationship in the film.

“Text message breakups,” cringes Mitch. “What was I thinking? It was not cool.”

I agree with that. Bad form young Mitch.

Based on this and the film itself, this is not just another teen movie.