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David Zeiger knows what he's doing and this film goes beyond
the normal father-son relationship. The 48-year-old photographer
and filmmaker treats his son Danny and his high-school friends
with the utmost respect. In return, they give him almost full
access to their lives and their thoughts. Then he takes that
raw material and shapes it into a varied portrait of what
its like to be a teenager today - but with almost none of
the sociological stereotyping or sentimentality that's common
to the subject.
The
Band is both humorous and lighthearted, even as it deals with
such heavy issues as anorexia, racism, and lost teen love.
Whatever the kids say about their not-so-attentive parents,
their missed love connections or their college financial woes,
it all matters deeply, but they still know how to have fun.
Mr Zeiger spends much of The Band watching them celebrate
that moment when they're still less mature but often much
wiser than their elders. In his occasional first-person voice-overs,
he admits that this is a nostalgia trip for him, and he compares
his time and his relationship with his father to his relationship
with Danny. It seems more things change, the more they stay
the same.
The
kids are so casually honest, so downright smart, that one
has to question all the alarm surrounding the state of teenage-dom.
This is not to say that Mr Zeiger glosses over the real societal/human
problems they face. One girl talks about having to take care
of her drunken mother; others have economic and social troubles,
including learning disabilities and run-ins with the police.
But what keeps coming through is their exuberance and their
optimism. The Band is not to be missed.
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