Naming it: Matt Wolf's doc, TEENAGE, traces the moniker/history of an altered state--adolescence

Hello? If the term teenage is relatively new, that state-of-being and its concerns have been around at least since the time of Romeo & Juliet. For some reason, however, director and co-writer (with Jon Savage, from his book on the subject) Matt Wolf decided to make a documentary all about... what? I'm not exactly sure. Ostensibly Wolf & Savage want to explore the coming of the "teenager" -- which supposedly occurred around the turn of the 20th Century, though the name itself arrived closer to mid-century -- along with the changes all this presaged.

To manage this, Mr. Wolf, pictured at left, picks out the adolescents of three countries -- Britain, Germany and the USA -- and follows a few of them from around the beginning of the 20th Century onwards. Why only these three countries? Well, why not? You gotta start somewhere. And so we do. The filmmakers offers up everything from the Boy Scouts (of both Britain and America) and Britain's "bright young things" to America's roaring '20s flappers and 1940s jitterbuggers. They're all here, along with a lot more, and they're singing and dancing and goose-stepping up a storm (yes, we get Germany's Hitler Youth, too). To what purpose, I'm not certain.

Part of the filmmakers' point, I think, is that youth usually foments change in a culture, and this is certainly true. So we see some of England's kids at the end of World War I offering up homosexuality, bisexuality and any kind of "other" sex you might want, while the much more uptight America has to incorporate sex into its dance crazes -- swing and such. And Germany? Well, it places all its youthful energy into conquering the world and exterminating the Jews. Beware the political leader who so insistently courts the young.

If German youth had a lot of answer for, America get its black eye via its own Black population (that it is still trying to figure out how to deal with, whether it's a ghetto inhabitant or a mixed-race President). We hear about the "sub-debs" and the Teen-age Bill of Rights (from 1945), and we end around the start of the Atomic Age. (Although, in a movie that tries to cram in everything, we also get that famous shot of the student in front of the tank in China's Tiananmen Square).

In terms of style, Wolf fills his film with some terrific archival footage, but also, I believe, does some visual "re-creations, using voice-overs by actors such as Ben Wishaw and Jena Malone. These are the least successful portions of the film, falling somewhere between documentary and narrative, and ending up much less energized than most of that fine archival footage. Due to the slap-dash, all-over-the-place, toss-in-anything-that-might-apply nature of the movie, Teenage left me less than satisfied, though I did appreciate some of its stunning images (above and below), sprightly pace and short (78-minute) running time.

But if you're really interested in teens in various countries around the world, how their music informs and adds to their culture and how their attitudes of rebellion and protest can make waves (that sometime sink those teen rebels), I heartily suggest you watch movies such as Britain's Bright Young Things, America's Hair and/or the under-seen Swing Kids, Iran's No One Knows About Persian Cats and especially Russia's Hipsters for a crash course in the connections between kids, culture, rebellion and music.

Meanwhile, Teenage -- from Oscilloscope -- opens this Friday, March 14, at the Landmark Sunshine, and the following Friday, March 21, in Los Angeles at Laemmle's NoHo 7 -- after which it will hit another ten cities around the country. Click here, then scroll down a bit, to see all currently scheduled playdates.

A younger Kasdan really makes it look, sound and feel like THE FIRST TIME

In the coming-of-age genre, that ever-popular sub-division of "losing it" gets a brand new go-round this week from an up-and-coming member of what used to be one of Hollywood's near-royal families, the Kasdans.  Dad Lawrence has the lengthiest resume (from Body Heat and The Big Chill to the recent Darling Companion) and mom Meg a lesser one (but then I imagine that she did the mothering, and maybe some career sacrificing along the way); bro Jake has some funny, under-seen films like Walk Hard and Orange County to his credit), while uncle Mark wrote Criminal Law and co-wrote Silverado. Now Lawrence and Meg's son Jonathan Kasdan, shown below, who a few years back gave us the interesting and well-cast In the Land of Women, is back with the movie under consideration here and titled -- perhaps in not terribly original fashion, as there have been at least 15 other films that used this exact name -- THE FIRST TIME.

However, though the title and subject (teens falling in love and approaching a sexual encounter) are not new, Kasdan fils' interpretation of this subject actually is because it goes for character over situation, while acknowledging the strictures of the genre, as well as those of the peer group to whom these kids belong. As writer/director, Kasdan has cast his film well (using Anya Colloff and Amy McIntyre Britt) with lead actors who, while attractive enough, are not so drop-dead gorgeous that we refuse to believe that they would, even for a moment, have trouble connecting with anyone they might choose.

The two performers in the leading roles, Dylan O'Brien  (below) and Britt Robertson (above) are also good enough actors that they bring us into their confusion and hope, which allows us to put up with some of their dumber choices. They're kids, after all. And they seem like kids, rather than the approaching-30 types we sometimes get in these would-be teen flicks.

Furthermore, the kids they're surrounded with, while hewing to the more-or-less standard model these movies offer, still manage to impress as singularly nerdy (Craig Roberts of Submarine, shown center), weighty (Lamarcus Tinker, center, right ) or pretty (the quite beautiful Victoria Justice, (shown at left in the penultimate photo below), as well as having a little something more to offer. Each of these characters/performers is given his/her chance to shine for a sudden, splendid moment or two. And they do.

But it remains for our two leads to carry the movie, and they do, too, thanks in good part to how well they handle the lovely, real dialog that Kasdan has given them. This is kids' chatter, all right, flecked with self-deprecating humor and only slightly buried feelings. Consequently, it's charming, funny and a little embarras-sing, as it should be, watching them fumble their way to connection.

Also quite special is how the filmmaker and his cast handle the final, tricky section of the movie. To talk much here would court spoilers, so I'll just note how very far we've come from the likes of Splendor in the Grass. This is a slight film, no doubt about it, so I don't want to overpraise. But young Kasdan, in giving us characters we care about, really does make this look, sound and feel like "the first time." And that's pretty wonderful.

The movie, from Samuel Goldwyn Films, opens this Friday, in New York (at the AMC Loews Village 7 and the AMC Empire 25), in Los Angeles (at the AMC Burbank Town Center 8) in Orange County at the AMC Orange 30) and all over Arizona (the state, I believe, in which The First Time was filmed). Click here to see the many Arizona playdates, with cities and theaters listed.

Dare to see DARE: Adam Salky/David Brind's film is a one-of-a kind winner

One of a kind? Sure enough.  Though DARE may remind you of movies such as Threesome, What Goes Up and others that explore teenage (and post) sexuality, this one by director Adam Salky (below, left) and screenwriter David Brind (below, right) is different enough to qualify for "original" status.  Its characters, as typical as central casting types, upon a closer look reveal some-
thing quite different.  The kids are believ-
able, too: funny, moving, sad & real.

The film offers title cards for each of its three main characters: Alexa (played very well by a surprisingly young-looking Emmy Rossum -- top, right, in the poster and below, right ), Ben (the sweet and hunky Ashley Springer -- bottom, left) and Johnny (the terrific Zach Gilford top, left, in the poster and below, left), whose character keeps opening up into infinity).  We see these people both as they see themselves, and as others in the film see them.  This is not such an easy task, but the filmmakers pull it off with aplomb, and this, more than anything, gives their film its unique quality and allows us to understand the sometimes unusual approach to sexuality and sexual preference that blossoms.

Gay, straight, and the area between is given its due, and the moment-to-moment trajectory that the sexuality takes is very believable -- as are the psychological underpinnings of the characters' needs, particularly those of Johnny.  The scene between him and his therapist (a fine Sandra Berhnard) is very well done. The supporting cast in general -- Rooney Mara (bottom, center), Ana Gasteyer and Alan Cumming -- is well chosen and delivers all that might be wished.  Not only sexuality, but the acting process, friendship and family are given their due

Making its DVD debut this week, after a minimal theatrical release last November, Dare might be a noun but more likely is a verbal command.  I would suggest acting on that command and renting it ASAP from Netflix or your video source of choice.  You could do worse, but it's hard to imagine your doing much better. This film's a winner -- if only for its surprising and thoughtful conclusion.