First Impressions: Trouble the Water & American Teen
Kimberly Rivers Roberts and Scott Roberts on a good day in Trouble the Water
I caught up recently with a couple of documentaries that made their respective marks at Sundance last January. The gripping and moving hurricane Katrina documentary Trouble the Water ended up winning the jury documentary prize while the crowd-pleasing American Teen received enthusiastic responses from audiences. Offering two distinct slices of American life, they’re related only in that they’re both different than what they might seem on the surface.
Produced and directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, the producers of Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, you’d expect Trouble to be a political diatribe. Though it takes a number of easy jabs at the Bush administration, Lessin and Deal are wielding a double-edged sword. As the film follows 24-year-old New Orleanian Kimberly Rivers Roberts as she and her husband Scott first survive the storm and then its aftermath, what emerges is a gripping and moving human story of a pair of people making the best of a bad situation. It’s also a heartbreaking look at a segment of our society that seems to belong to the third world.
Trouble the Water is something to see and you’ll have your chance when the film begins its rollout in NY and LA on August 22. I’ll have a full review up before then.
Going in, I was skeptical about American Teen, Nanette Burstein’s portrait of five high school seniors from a small town in Indiana. I couldn’t imagine it telling me anything about teenagers I didn’t already know or needed to. In the end, it doesn’t really illuminate teenage life so much as document it in an entertaining and dramatic way.
It’s interesting to see how much high school has changed and how much it has remained the same. I defy you not to take an interest in one of these characters who begin the film as stereotypes, but who are ultimately revealed to be multi-layered individuals. My favorite was Hannah, the alternative girl; the rebel with boy troubles who just wants to break the shackles of her small town existence. Whether it’s the rebel, the jock, the geek, the princess or the heartthrob, odds are you’ll find yourself rooting for one of them and remembering back to a time in your own life that felt hopelessly complicated yet seems so simple now.
American Teen opens in NY and LA on July 25.
Filed under: Previews
Tags: American Teen, Carl Deal, Kimberly Rivers Roberts, Nanette Burstein, Scott Roberts, Tia Lessin, Trouble the Water
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- Review: Trouble the Water (2008) ****
- Review: American Teen (2008) *** 1/2
Hmm, both sound like interesting possibilities. I wonder why it’s taken so long for Trouble the Water to come out, since it sounds like it was shot quite a while ago. Does it follow them for a few years?
It covered more than a year, but I can’t say precisely.
The footage that Kimberly shot makes Cloverfield look like an Ozu film, but it kind of adds to the tension and sense of clausterphobia and the whole movie isn’t like that.
Oh, I see…the producers weren’t following them around from the start. That explains why this took longer to come out.
Actually, they hooked up while Kimberly and Scott were taking refuge at the Superdome. The producers had gone down there with other intentions and Kimberly saw them filming and approached them about some footage she had. They switched gears and followed the couple around from that point, flashing back and forth between the storm and the aftermath and then on to the struggles afterward.
Well OK then.
Thanks for the heads up on these docs Craig. I wasn’t open to American Teen prior to your commentary on it. And hey, I had a thing for alternative girls.
I’m catching a screening American Teen early next week. Can’t wait.
And sartre, I just recognized your Gravatar…it’s from The Big Combo, isn’t it? All this noir immersion is paying off for me now. :)
You’re right on the money Evan.
I’m looking forward to MovieZeal’s August celebration of film noir.
The Big Combo? What’s that? :)
I’ll always kick myself for not catching where Sartre’s image was from, and now I’m reviewing the film for M-Z.
Great little reviews, Craig–like most around these parts, I figure, American Teen didn’t sound particularly appetizing but perhaps I’ll check it out soon. The Katrina documentary sounds like quite the powerful punch.
I was going to spare you the shame Alexander. But it appears you’re shameless.
Haha… Indeed I am, Sartre, indeed I am.
Great reviews indeed…I want to see them both, but “American Teen” the most.
I’ve obviously been looking forward to Trouble the Water since Sundance. American Teen, well, at one point very early on it was the best film I’d seen all year. Only for a few days, but it’s still way up there. Like you, Craig, the challenge is on for anyone to not find at least 3 opportunities to laugh hysterically. I thought there was a surprising amount of serious emotion, though, especially with Hannah’s story and her parents.
I have a feel I’m going to be defending AT throughout the rest of the year. It’s a really easy film to criticize, but it’s also a really easy one to absolutely love.
i may see american teen. and you know i’m not doc happy. but if i see american teen i’m gonna view it as fiction.as a fiction movie.
it’s about high school/so how else should i view it ???
i really don’t fit of the a. teen types from the trailer i saw. but yeah i guess my brand of geekiness/loserdom… is pretty darn undocumneted/especailly during the high school years. hell don’t ask i really don’t remember… :)
If I don’t see “American Teen” soon, I’m gonna kill myself. And I am not even joking.
And judging from the trailer which, if iTunes is telling the truth, I have watched 22 times, I think I am so the boy-version of Hannah. Most definitely.
Rebel? Check. “I don’t fit in, I hate it” Check. “I’m so not conservative” Check. “Most people around here just stay, you know, Indiana, that doesn’t sound great to me. I don’t want to stay in Indiana either, so check.
I cannot wait.