With a simplistic name that disguises the depth of its topic, "American Teen" is a fantastically straightforward documentary that follows one year in the lives of a bunch of high-school seniors in Warsaw, Indiana. Director Nanette Burstein ("The Kid Stays In The Picture") spent 10 months shooting during and after school hours and edited down over a thousand hours of footage into a few clear, archetypal story lines.
The film begins with a voiceover by one student the filmmakers follow, Hannah Bailey, who tells how "the teachers taught us America is a meritocracy, but our school is a caste system . . . this is all we've known, and it will be over in seven months. All we have to do is figure out what to do with the rest of our lives." Cue the pensive acoustic guitar song; Burstein had no qualms about dramatizing these kids' lives a bit, making a film that would certainly appeal to the demographic it portrays.
Burstein keeps the focus clearly on those two points; she documents the rigid cliques that dominate high-school life, with perspectives from the top and the bottom. She also observes the students struggling with the "what comes next?" question, a big part of which involves deciding whether to listen to your parents' wishes or to ignore them.