For most of us high school is a distant memory. Kind of like those chunky platform loafers I used to wear. But watching "American Teen," writer/director Nanette Burstein's glossy new documentary about a group of seniors at a school in Warsaw, Indiana, takes you right back to that time when winning a basketball game was an event of monumental importance, right up there with having clear skin and getting into the perfect college (because, obviously there's only one).

But what could have easily played out like a Midwestern-version of Laguna Beach is actually much more captivating because the "Breakfast Club"-esque caste system at play doesn't necessarily hold true (Example: My favorite character, the nerd, takes a wild trip to Tijuana without ending up in prison and has a cute date to the prom—albeit, he had to fly her in from San Diego). And because this is real life the uncoached dialogue is at once uncomfortably honest and totally endearing, particularly the things that come flying out of arty "rebel" Hannah Bailey's unguarded mouth.

In the end, the voyeuristic overdrive that makes this wonderful film so intriguing is also what might leave you feeling emotionally raw—especially if you recognize a little piece of yourself in some of these teens. When I hit up the New York premiere with a gaggle of Gen Art staffers last week, we couldn't help but huddle together in the lobby after the movie ended, whispering about our favorite "characters" and pointing them out to one another in the packed crowd. If only we'd been holding lunch trays in our hands, it would have been the high school cafeteria all over again.

"American Teen" opens at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas this Friday; click here to purchase your advance tickets.

- Caroline Stanley

Similar Topics:Documentary, film, Sundance Film Festival

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