High School Record (American Spectrum) Directed by: Ben Wolfinsohn

Everyone’s gone through it; and even if you haven’t–you will. The teenage years are inescapable as one of the most awkward, trying times in one’s young life where the body and mind are developing into what it will be for the rest of its existence. And in addition to all the other changes that one must go through in this vital stage of development, for most, the institution known as “high school” is just one of those horrible, awful, and seldom times fondly-remembered times sandwiched into the adolescent years.

For writer/director Ben Wolfinsohn, high school was an awkward time in life. And though he’s moved on and gone on to produce the popular music documentary,”Friends Forever,” the film “High School Record” is finally Ben’s cinematic essay to the world about this trying time in his life that nearly everyone can relate to somehow. Full of free flowing uneasiness, “High School Record” can be easily praised for its combination of documentary/narrative format (often known as “mockumentary) to create his story, the direction, and finally, the excellent use of non-professional actors to add spice and reality to the film that professionals might not have been able to give it.

“High School Record” presents a situation in which Nick (Nicholas Gitomer) and his girlfriend, Susan (Susan Estrada), take it upon themselves to document by camera Nick’s transfer student experience to a new high school. Choosing to follow the students in Miss Farewell’s (Becky Stark) drama class, Sabrina (Jenna Thornhill), Caleb (Dean Allen Punt), Eddie (Bobby Sandoval), Erin (Jennifer Calvin), Tomes (Maneesh Madahar), and Amy (Jessie Calvin) become the somewhat unwilling victims of their new classmates’ documentary. Unsurprisingly, this voyeuristic journey tracking the students turns into one exploring the complexities and paradoxes which exist within the teenage mind, relationships that are constantly in flux, and as always, the awkwardness which is high school.

“High School Record” is interesting first in that it follows a trend that seems to becoming more and more popular in filmmaking (especially with independents) to have a tendency towards “mockumentary,” or blending the elements that create a documentary with a purely fictional scenario. Most prominent in the list of recent mockumentaries, and probably the film that spurred the greatest interest in the “genre,” was the low-budget independent success, “The Blair Witch Project,” which takes seemingly ordinary people out into a forest to video tape themselves, but utilizes previously scripted scenes mixed with improvisation create a sense of spontaneity and “realness” to the film. To Wolfinsohn’s credit, it was a smart move on his part to mimic this style and use real high school students to improvise a high school experience. Not only was there a spontaneity to the performances that made the film more real, but the same effect is reflected upon the actors as real, tangible people in a real world. The film wouldn’t have succeeded had it been done as a straight narrative–but to make it a ‘mockumentary’ of sorts helps the film to succeed.

In terms of direction, Ben Wolfinsohn, shows himself to be more than the one-hit wonder of his first film, a documentary entitled “Friends Forever.” It was perhaps this first film that gave Wolfinsohn the skills to recognize some of the prime elements of the genre in order to make “High School Record” look more authentic...more like the documentary which the students in his film are trying to make. Just as in a documentary, rarely is the camera very still to take in the whole of a scene. Rather, the camera moves frequently, and sometimes in a very jumpy manner as if someone in the situation is trying to capture all of the action, but can’t just make it–or as if they’re also moving while simultaneously holding the camera. A prime example of this occurs when Caleb and Sabrina, the most complex characters in the film (primarily because they were based off of the director and his ex-girlfriend) are hiking, and Caleb is walking backwards while filming Sabrina. It’s not like Caleb is actually seen walking ahead of Sabrina, as there is no camera set up to the side of them. Rather, the insinuation is made that Ben is walking in front of Sabrina, as the camera is jerky as if someone is walking, and remains focused on the girl’s face, indicating that the camera man must be concentrating on his subject. We also hear Caleb’s voice “closer” to the camera than the voice of Sabrina, indicative that Caleb is more than likely the camera operator. By allowing most of his scenes to be filmed in a rather “unprofessional,” documentary-style manner, Wolfinsohn achieves that much-needed sense of immediacy required to bring audiences into the moment, and cause them to actually connect with the film.

The actors cannot exist in this film without note either. For such a young cast, it is amazing that Wolfisohn’s actors were able to, despite at least scripted scenarios, improvise so effectively enough that every scene of the film felt “real” in some sense–as if you were in the room at the same time they were and connect, or at least standing merely on the fringes and looking in along with Susan and Nick. Actually recruited at a Los Angeles club called “The Smell” by Wolfisohn, the genuine experiences of these non-actors, as the Italian neo-realists discovered when experimenting with the same technique, adds a beneficial element to the film which allows for a deeper “connect” with audiences. Not only that, but whereas a professional actor might approach a scene in the film where Sabrina and Erin are “forced” by their parents to work in a fast-food restaurant, a professional might subtly play the scene, determined to capture every nuance of movement and emotion. In contrast, the use of non-professional actors means that the performers could enter and exit each scene with little-to-no expectations, and merely play as their feelings dictated–exaggerated or not. The technique works, and adds so much more immediacy and intimateness to the film that it probably would not have survived otherwise.

Filming in “mockumentary” style, great direction, and wonderful acting by non-professionals all mark Ben Wolfinsohn’s triumphant second effort in the film world with his “High School Record”–literally, a record of one of the most awkward stages of life–high school. While it is nice to largely see films within either the drama or the documentary spectrum only, it is quite refreshing nonetheless to have a film be made which allows the actors almost an unlimited freedom to portray a character as much as a real person as possible–themselves. Every element works flawlessly together to create a working machine that not only effectively communicates the frustrations of the filmmaker in regards to his high school experience, but draws the audience in to side with Wolfinsohn as well.