ubfilms
A great portrayal of the microcosm of the American high school experience. This is an brilliant film on multiple levels. Both witty and humorous the film presents an adult viewpoint on the teenage experience without being preachy or dumbed-down (like many high school films). The acting is great, the scenes are well-written, and the dialog is spot-on. It takes a little bit to become accustom to the style of the film, but ultimately you become completely engaged with the originality of everything the film has to offer. With the similarities of the truthful awkwardness and sincere characters of Freaks and Geeks (without the clichés), High School Record is film that many can relate to and I highly recommend checking it out.
thebigmike01
i first saw this movie at the sundance film festival this year, and being a teenager myself i found the movie to be quite appealing. these kids are out of the ordinary and very unexpected to be in a movie of this stature but with the right dialog and junk they made the movie a complete success. i enjoyed this movie more then others but i highly recommend releasing and watching this movie. it is a mixture of witty comments and hilarious reality. capturing the essence of high school, high school record has topped my favorites list and hopefully has a chance to be released into theaters. i truly thank all of the kids who put the hard work into making this film, it helped me cry my eyes our in laughter.
Gem
This movie was very, very strange and very, very funny. All of the actors are quite real and very odd. The overall "look" of the film was different, too, sort of dreamy and bleached-out, which only added to the spacey, fumbling, weird vibe of the whole thing.It's not for everyone, I mean, it's not what you would call "mainstream" but that is what I liked about it. It's unlike anything I have ever seen before . . . unpredictable, with a weird rhythm and punch lines in the strangest places. The kids are so heartbreakingly goofy (and pimply) that you can't help but feel for them. In other words, these are far from "hollywoodized" versions of teenagers.All of, which for me, makes it a good thing.
ethanbullard
I just saw "High School Record" at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. I really enjoyed seeing it amongst the expensive, high profiles films that week. It was funny, (very funny) and original yet simple in scope. I'm interested to see if this movie gets bought or distributed. I'm not sure about the commercial appeal of this film, for it is a bit slow at times, there are never any huge punch lines or sweeping character arcs, and the soundtrack is good but not recognizable to a mainstream audience. The actors who played the half a dozen high school art students and their one flaky teacher were all first time actors, apparently coming straight from the underground Los Angeles punk scene. This was certainly an "amateur" movie, but that is why it is so effective. It is shot like a documentary from the point of view of two of the art school students. Rather than making any judgements on the character traits or flaws of these eccentric teenagers, the movie delivers a day-in-the-life look at this handful of seniors who in addition to wrestling with thoughts of post-high school life, or the status quo of their relationships, spend most of their time executing inventive ways to break from the minutia of high school. If the goal of this filmmaker was to show high school life as it is for the nerdy/rebellious/inventive kids, than I think keeping the low budget and low production value made for a much more effective film. And I hope "High School Record" does earn some recognition, for while it may look like a movie any high school kid has ever thought of making, that's just the point: this is the first to actually do it... and make it to Sundance, no less.