There are points in Only
the Young, the award-winning documentary from Jason Tippet and
Elizabeth Mims, where you can easily forget that you are watching real-life
teens living out their day-to-day lives and not an updated rework of Rebel
Without a Cause ... these could be kids from the back class of in Fast
Times at Ridgemont High. Some
things never change, only the faces.
Oscilloscope Laboratories
has tabbed Apr. 30 for the double-feature/double-disc release of Only
the Young, which is coupled with Tchoupitoulas (more on that in a
second).
Winner of the National
Board of Review award for “Top Five Documentaries” in 2012 (plus additional
festival competitions), the film got a major metro theatrical showcase in
December of last year (to raise awareness).
The ARR works out to 144 days and reported ticket sales for the film’s
limited run were $7,138.
In dramatic films these
kids are fiction. In Only
the Young, they are Kevin, Skye and Garrison, teens living in Santa
Clarita, California (although it could be Anywhere USA). It’s their little
corner of the post-real estate bust world; foreclosed homes, abandoned
construction sites … half-million dollar suburban paradises lying empty that
the skateboarders now make good use of, especially the empty swimming pools.
Sexual tension, an
uncertain future … and the here and now; that’s all part of the narrative in Only
the Young. A film where you get
the distinct impression that Tippet and Mims culled out and then brought into
focus the story of this particular trio, not because they are any different
from their contemporaries, but because they were better able to articulate
their feelings.
In fact, it would be
interesting to revisit the trio seven years hence, as with Paul Almond’s Seven-Up
film series. The carefree days of being
a teen inevitably give way to adulthood.
You wonder if the kids of this lost paradise will ever be able to afford
the dreams that once drove the suburbia that they were born into.
Bonus features include
commentary from Tippet and Mims, Tippet’s short film titled Thompson
and outtakes.
The companion film is
this double-disc collection from Oscilloscope is Tchoupitoulas, from
brothers Bill and Turner Ross. As with Only
the Young, their documentary follows kids, only this time it is the three
Zander brothers, who wander the streets of New Orleans (not exactly a wholesome
place).
It is an interesting film
with a strong narrative, but that can be something of a double-edge sword. While we don’t doubt that William, Bryan and
Kentrell are who they say they are — appear to be — there is this uneasy
feeling that the Ross Brothers are perhaps a little too slick with the
presentation. Real-life becoming drama
… you be the judge.
If Tchoupitoulas is a true slice-of-life
documentary, then it is an extremely sad one; a story with only dreams and
little hope.
This ARR is 144 days and
the domestic box office take for the film’s limited arthouse run was $10,431.
Bonus features include a
behind-the-scenes featurette.
