Lisa Teasley is a writer from Los Angeles. It has been a few decades since she left high school but now she has decided to return to the scene by going to a school north of Atlanta in the town of Chablee. When she had her prom, she was in the minority ethically and times were generally more positive and perhaps innocent. Now she views a school that is predominately Afro-American to try and experience what the end-of-year prom means to the class of 2006.
Well, this is how Teasley describes her film but I must admit that I didn't really see it in reality as the film doesn't really explore the characters of themes as well as I would have liked. Teasley does get good access to her subjects though, but her approach towards them suggests that she is not totally sure what she is looking to get from them. I detected a hint of affection towards these young people from her and perhaps this is why she doesn't really push them or try to use them as devices to explore themes in the way I hopes she would. As a result the film just follows these young people and ask pretty simple questions of them. It means that we don't really have any cultural or social insight to be had but it does still stand up thanks to the characters themselves.
None are exceptionally fascinating but they are from a good spread of the community and they make for interesting subjects. It would have been nice to catch them at more vulnerable moments and also push them a little harder so they revealed what they were trying not to, but it is still OK. The conclusion of the film reveals the breakups and the various challenges that followed the prom and it would have been better to have built those in, rather than just have them as captions at the end. Having said all that though, I must confess that the character I liked the most was also the "dullest" (in terms of her being a documentary subject) but I did find Ruqayyah to be intelligent and very cute she instantly won me over! Anyway, in regards how this works as a film, it isn't that great. The scenario and characters make it interesting enough to be worth checking out for those who have never experienced the US-style prom but, without any meaningful exploration of the characters or development of themes or wider cultural commentary, it was never good to be anything more than that. A shame really, but there we go.
Well, this is how Teasley describes her film but I must admit that I didn't really see it in reality as the film doesn't really explore the characters of themes as well as I would have liked. Teasley does get good access to her subjects though, but her approach towards them suggests that she is not totally sure what she is looking to get from them. I detected a hint of affection towards these young people from her and perhaps this is why she doesn't really push them or try to use them as devices to explore themes in the way I hopes she would. As a result the film just follows these young people and ask pretty simple questions of them. It means that we don't really have any cultural or social insight to be had but it does still stand up thanks to the characters themselves.
None are exceptionally fascinating but they are from a good spread of the community and they make for interesting subjects. It would have been nice to catch them at more vulnerable moments and also push them a little harder so they revealed what they were trying not to, but it is still OK. The conclusion of the film reveals the breakups and the various challenges that followed the prom and it would have been better to have built those in, rather than just have them as captions at the end. Having said all that though, I must confess that the character I liked the most was also the "dullest" (in terms of her being a documentary subject) but I did find Ruqayyah to be intelligent and very cute she instantly won me over! Anyway, in regards how this works as a film, it isn't that great. The scenario and characters make it interesting enough to be worth checking out for those who have never experienced the US-style prom but, without any meaningful exploration of the characters or development of themes or wider cultural commentary, it was never good to be anything more than that. A shame really, but there we go.
