Lorna Irvine reviews a worthy attempt at analysing 'a much-maligned genre'.
Featuring a pounding new score by Summer Camp and a husky narration by Goth film icon Fairuza Balk, Charlie Lyne's documentary puts teen coming-of-age film tropes under the microscope.
From identity issues to youth subversion, the jocks, stoners, cheerleaders and geeks are scrutinised in this well-designed and edited film, which comes on more wildlife documentary than film media study: everyone, it is suggested, travels in packs--even the weird kids.
"High school is hypnotic," purrs Balk, as hormones explode and cherries pop, more often than not with disastrous consequences. As with adolescence, there is a preoccupation with sex here: getting it, not getting it, getting over it, or simply regretting it. There's more flesh here than a Tesco meat counter.
Sadly, it presents a staggeringly hetero-normative overview--gay and lesbian sexual desire is only mentioned in passing, with gay sex something to repress or be mocked. In the case of the schlocky Idle Hands, Devon Sawa's Anton is so numbed to any sexual impulses by bong misuse that he severs his hand, only for it to run around molesting women. Ginger Snaps, meanwhile, takes its lead from the body horrors of Carrie and David Cronenberg, where Ginger (Katherine Isabelle) becomes a werewolf whenever she menstruates.
Elsewhere, it's the usual stuff: nihilism, bitchiness and makeovers (Mean Girls, Ten Things I Hate About You, She's All That) where the desire to conform wins out, sucking any individuality or creativity out of people. Exoticism is stifled, and the norm of marriage, mortgages and children dominates.
It would have been nice to see clips where there are no pat endings and characters operate in a less prescribed way, such as Igby Goes Down, Heathers, The Virgin Suicides, The Ice Storm or Ghost World--all interesting, complex films featuring teens with moral ambiguity and real issues.
Still, not a bad stab, or grope, or in some cases fumble, towards an understanding of a much-maligned genre.
Beyond Clueless (15) Dir: Charlie Lyne, UK, 2014.
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