Some adults want to be reminded of the good times. Others just want to solidify the relief felt when they survived high school. Either way, a documentary headed to Port Orchard’s independent theater, The Orchard, is taking us back to the time when awkwardness ruled, there was homework to be avoided and our social status was the most important thing on Earth.
On Sept. 3, The Orchard will start rolling “American Teen,” a documentary shot in Warsaw, Ind., in 2006. I have no idea where that is, either.
The film follows five perfectly stereotyped teenagers and their misadventures through senior year. There’s Hannah Bailey, the misfit; Colin Clemens, the jock; Mitch Reinholt, the heartthrob; Megan Krizmanich, the princess; and Jake Tusing, the band geek/gamer.
For those whose best years are behind them, it’s time to dust off your letterman’s jacket, pull your yearbook out from underneath your pillow and wonder what could have been, had you married that high school crush. For those of us who get an achy feeling in the pit of their stomach just thinking about the whole high school experience, the movie will probably put a smile on your face the next time you write that mortgage check. Down with high school, up with adult responsibilities.
To be fair, I’m not one bit nostalgic about high school. Probably because I was the same uber-geek then that I am now. But back then, geek was an insult.
Regardless of movie-goers motives, “American Teen” created quite a stir at the Sundance Film Festival. The buzz around the film is that it’s a well-done, unscripted trip through that last vestige of American adolescence.
“It’s supposed to be really good; really well done,” said Kahlen Burgwin, manager of The Orchard. “The way it’s packaged it feels a lot like a narrative film.”
“American Teen” is rated PG-13 for strong language, sexual material, drinking and smoking, all of a teenaged variety. That’s certainly how I remember high school. Didn’t condone it and certainly didn’t participate in it — hence the “loser” label — but I certainly remember watching it unfold. And the ensuing drama it created.
For more information about The Orchard or for show times for “American Teen,” go to www.orchard
theater.com
