medina-claudia57
In my life i have seen many movies about teenagers from Sixteen Candles to High School Musical, and in all the movies i have seen, none have compared to American Teen. American Tenn is the most phenomenal film of the decade. This film truly does define an American Teen. Most films exaggerate or over expose the "Typical Teen" but this film shows a high school life from every angle in a beautifully crafted way. This film changed my life and opened my eyes to another world. The main protagonists are so full of personality and very unique. This film shows you morals and makes you think back to when you made their mistakes, achieved their successes and fell in love like they did. The film is so perfectly edited they filmed every scene as it should have been and glued all the scenes so that it's just a continuous stream of beauty. This film made me cry, laugh, and scared. mainly scared because it made me think about my senior year and if it would end up being that catastrophic, but in the end it gave me hope. I would watch this film when i'm happy, when i'm down, in health and in sickness. The If there is one movie to see it is American Teen.
memocar36
I like how in the movie they show all the cliques, because even with everything that goes on in the world. People stick with cliques and what they know because sometimes differences can be fear. A fear of what other people might think if they try something new or hang out with a new person who is not from their clique like Mitch. I love the part when Hannah is on the stage and you hear his voice saying I have been here for four years and I have never met Hannah. Watching him, watch makes you wonder would he actually hang out with her before school was over because he was a jock and she was like the rebel she did things her own way on her own time. Which honestly I wish I could of done in high school just a little.Anyway they actually started hanging out and enjoying each others company until she hung out with him and his friends and it looked like none of them even decided to talk to her which was rude. Like it was like she was not even there. How rude I thought but then again it is high school and it was obvious that his friends didn't want her around and she felt out of place.
travel_berlin
I watched this documentary this afternoon, and really like it. It's quite entertaining, and though I've never been to America, it feels quite realistic to me.I've been a teenager not so long ago, and still can feel how that life feels. As a Chinese, most of us more or less feel jealous about American teenagers-they always seems live in a more wealthy life, have more freedom no matter in express their ideas or do things they like. The culture which open for sex and independent life always make people around me say: if i live in America...But after watching this film, I understand that American Teenagers also have their own problems, and if we see that from the original, we have so many common issues waiting to solve.When a boy or a girl riches 14 or so, we are sexually available, and sexual fantasy come along with it. Parents and teachers never tell us how to hook up with guys or girls, vise visa, they always tell us it is wrong to fall in love as a teen age boy, actually, they tell us it is wrong to fall in love as long as we are still a student-no matter we are 24 or 27. Hand in hand with the opposite sex is highly not allowed, don't even mention kiss. this always seem some kind of crucial for me, i just believe people should have the right to do anything they want and they can, on the condition of not harming others. Stopping others from doing things they really like, that is sin. Well, this is Chinese teenagers' dissatisfaction.But as i see these American boys and girls like and hate each other, flirting with the ones they like, bitching about other girls' private life and do bad thing upon their back... it just feels exactly the same with my senior years, at this point, don't have sexual education is not that important and not make me that mad anymore, what really beautiful in this is the youth we had.I've been cried for the boyfriend breaking, too. And i know my girl friend cried even harder than me, though my parents never know I had a boyfriend, other students parents seldom know they ever have boyfriends or girlfriends; in our school, we also have attractive guys every girl crushed on; they mathematic geek no girl wanna date; and of course, those bitches who always think they are the beauty queen, never know they are the most ugly person in the city from inside. We also have student who always want to go to the big city for their own dream, no matter how their parents freaked out-for he knows that this is the real way to live life, to step out and see the world as much as he can, and always do things he love and he's good at...Yes, we are the same, no matter where you were brought up and grew up, there's no need to jealous anybody from and culture and maybe no need to feel sorry for anybody from any culture-if they come from a environment harder, they must saw something different which made their life different, and we should make this as a power but something feel sad. I think their must have a reason of the life we have which different from each other.I love this film, not only it's entertaining, not only it showed me how American teenager's life is, but it made me realize: inside, we are all teenagers, we are all human beings, no matter which culture we are from, there's a way to make it beautiful and fabulous! The rest of it, just don't care.
george.schmidt
American TEEN (2008) *** Documentarian filmmaker Nanette Burstein's exploration into the 21st Century American teenager is often on the mark but feels very manipulative in examining 4 atypical US high school seniors a la John Hughes' THE BREAKFAST CLUB: The Geek, The Jock, The Basket Case, The Princess and The Rebel as a template that has a few surprises in store for those who anticipate the expected usual trials and tribulations of youth: high expectations, stress to excel in curriculum and extracurricular activities to get into a decent college, social awkwardness , growing into one's own persona, and finally accepting the things the way they are, damn the expectations.
