Afterschool

It's usually a bad sign when a film is too cold and distant, but AFTERSCHOOL manages to be a fascinating piece of filmmaking despite the fact that those two adjectives definitely apply to it. This is a harsh, authentic and sometimes disturbing look at both the prep school/wealthy children community and at the effects of the current general obsession with Internet videos. The cold and distant approach is exactly the sort of thing that Steven Soderbergh tried earlier this year with THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE and wasn't particularly successful at, whereas first-time director Antonio Campos does a better job at it here. What matters most when you take that sort of approach is that you remember that a "cold and distant" movie can still be engrossing, which is exactly the case here.

I'd hate to spoil what happens during the first few seconds of AFTERSCHOOL, but suffice it to say that it's more than enough to give you an idea of not only the dark direction in which the film is headed but also of the troubled state of mind of its protagonist. Rob (Ezra Miller) is a sophomore at a prep school, who mostly stays in his room and watches videos on his computer. During class he's distracted looking at his English teacher's butt and breasts, but as soon as she asks him a question, he answers correctly (he may be a horny teenager, but he knows his Hamlet). He seems to get along reasonably well with his roommate Dave (Jeremy Allen White), but there's a constant undertone of hostility here. Dave copies his homeworks from Rob, and although they room together, Dave is such a lazy procrastinator that he doesn't actually copy the homeworks until they're sitting in the hallway waiting for class to start. Dave hangs out and does drugs with some other friends, but never invites Rob: "You're not cool enough, man." Indeed, when talking to his mom on the phone, Rob confesses that he doesn't think people like him; his mom basically responds by begging him not to bother her and to just put those negative thoughts out of his mind.

At this prep school, it's required to be in at least one extracurricular activity. Obviously, Rob's not much of an athlete or social butterfly, so he decides to join the video club, which seems to be right up his alley of interests. Things get complicated when the Talbert twins (two seniors who are the stereotypical blonde "most popular girl in school" types) die of a drug overdose, and it turns out that Rob filmed their agonizing final moments and stood over them as they died (the Talbert twins were also among the people that Dave did drugs with). Fortunately, we don't get the entire story on what happened, which is precisely what makes AFTERSCHOOL so intriguing for its entire running time.

This film features a brilliant blend between reality as you actually see it and reality seen through the lens of a camera. Although the death of the Talbert twins is what makes the plot move forward, the film is at its best when it examines Rob's perspective on what's happening around him. As one of the adult characters observes at one point, "it's hard to tell" what Rob is thinking, and the curiosity of discovering more about what's going on inside his head makes this a particularly engrossing film.

There are two missteps towards the end of AFTERSCHOOL. One involves a speech by the school's principal in which he states that everyone is responsible for the girls' deaths ("we all gave them the drugs"). While it's true that you could easily hold everyone accountable for the problem of teenage drug use, this is too much of a platitude for a movie that aims more towards disturbing unconventionality. My other complaint is that this is the type of film that would've benefitted from an intense, tough blow in its final scene. AFTERSCHOOL leaves things somewhat unresolved, which is something I don't have a problem with (and I usually think it's great when that happens), but I feel that, in addition to leaving things unresolved, it should've ended with a big emotional punch.

Nonetheless, this is still very intelligent and well-shot. AFTERSCHOOL isn't for everyone, but it easily satisfies those of us who appreciate this sort of risky, offbeat cinematic offering. There are traces of Gus Van Sant's masterwork ELEPHANT here, which is nothing but a great accolade especially for someone who's making his directorial debut.

6/10