Remember the Daze
Review by David Bjerre
Genre: The Delinquent Ones
Keywords:
Last day of school, smoking, beating up a dolphin.
Did you know that...
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse you can tell when somebody has smoked marijuana if they 1) Seem dizzy and have trouble walking 2) Seem silly and giggly for no reason 3) Have very red, bloodshot eyes 4) Have a hard time remembering things that just happened. Which would be pretty much any high school student Monday morning.
FLASHBACK
How much do you remember from your last day of school? Well, if you're anything like me, not much. It's all a big blur. Not just because of the alcohol, but also because of the barrage of conflicting emotions such a day by its very definition inspires. Hopes for a far off future mixes with more immediate concerns: Were my grades good enough? I hope that girl talks to me. What if I never have friends like this again? The sense of loss, because an era is coming to an end, and the sense of uneasiness, because the new era has yet to reveal its true colors. All these emotions mix with a rock solid intent to make this day one of the best days ever. And that, in a nutshell, is what "Remember the Daze" is all about.
GETTING READY
As morning breaks the students of Wilmington High School gather themselves for the last day of the school year. For the class of 1999 this is the last school day altogether. It's time to take stock, look to the future, and - oh yeah - smoke your brains out.
Beautiful blond bombshell Lucy (Amber Heard) contemplates dumping her loser boyfriend Pete (Douglas Smith), who didn't graduate, and tries to score Dylan (Khleo Thomas), the gangster wannabe boyfriend of airhead cheerleader Stacey (Marnette Patterson), who should get out of that relationship anyway so Lucy would really be doing her a favor, and meanwhile, Stacy and Lucy's friends Brianna (Melonie Diaz) and Dawn (Lyndsy Fonseca) are constantly bickering, but what's really going on is that they share a secret which is getting exponentially more complicated, plus Dawn is not happy she has to constantly dodge advances from former student and full-time pot dealer Felix (Chris Marquette), who, along with his brother Mod (Sean Marquette), supply most of the student body with drugs, including Tori (Leighton Meester) and Sylvia (Katrina Begin) who have been hired to babysit, then decide to get high on mushrooms after the kids have been put to bed, and let's not forget their friend Eddie (Shahine Ezell), a self-proclaimed student of life, who attempts to teach Riley (Aaron Himelstein) how to land a senior while cruising with his friends Dylan and Biz (Wesley Jonathan) and flirting with junior Holly, who is looking to lose her innocence along with fellow student Lighty (Stella Maeve), who takes a liking to Bailey (John Robinson), leader of a garage band set to play a gig this very night, and if your head is buzzing right now, take comfort in the fact that everything is documented in simple black and white photographs by quiet Asian student Thomas (Charles Chen).
THE PARTY
"Remember the Daze" is a curious experience. As a teen film it covers very familiar territory, in fact it could be accused of wallowing in every teen cliché in the book. All the archetypes and all the classic elements are present, but even as the drinking, the sex and the partying take over the film, there's a constant melancholy lurking in the background, which takes the film out of the fratboy realm. It feels honest and it feels real.
A few of the classic teen films cover similar themes. The great ones from John Hughes - "Pretty in Pink" and "Sixteen Candles" - strike some of these cords, as do newer entries in the teen canon, such as "Can't Hardly Wait" and "Empire Records", mostly because they, like "Remember the Daze", use that familiar, but never failing plot device, of playing out during a single day.
Admittedly most of the film consists of a bunch of teens talking nonsense, getting high, and running around like headless chickens. Just reading the MPAA rating description will give you an excellent idea of what kind of film this is: "Rated R for pervasive drug and alcohol use, strong language and some sexual content - all involving teens". Uninitiated viewers will undoubtedly feel hopelessly lost, or simply bored to tears, but for those who get the film, who can see through the dense smoke, who remember the daze themselves if you will, there's a treasure-trove of perfection waiting here.
Young unassuming director Jess Manafort spins a surprisingly gentle tale that captures the mood of the last day of school perfectly. She offers moments of simple beautiful storytelling - like the sweet gentle portrait of a pair of concerned parents, who have yet to admit to themselves that their offspring is beyond their reach at this point - side by side with moments of utter insanity - like the scene where one of the characters beat up the school mascot, a dolphin, for no apparent reason - and the film's constant shifting back and forth means you're never quite sure what to expect. Same dichotomy extends to the music. We have the songs - bound to throw '90s alumni into total flashback mode - to create the party, and we have the instrumental score bubbling melancholically in the background, allowing us to reminisce about the party.
It's unfair to compare young filmmakers to the masters, so we won't compare Manafort to Altman during that tour de force opening scene in which we're introduced to most of the major players as the camera glides gracefully from one character to the next. And we won't mention Scorsese in the same sentence as we mention that stellar party sequence in which the camera hungrily searches through the house looking for a good time, while the focus shifts from one character to another, then back again. Let's just say it'll be interesting to see what Manafort comes up with next.
THE NEXT MORNING
Morning breaks once again. The cool air washes away the last bit of buzz and your mind slowly returns to a relative state of normalcy. How many mistakes did you make? Did this night change you life? Did you get what you wanted?
While you ponder these questions, let's review: "Remember the Daze" is the "Short Cuts" of the bong heads, the "Mean Streets" of the high school films. Socially irresponsible to a fault, but highly entertaining. And just in case someone should be tempted to ask what the whole thing means, why all this drinking and smoking is necessary, let's remember the scene at the Keg party where Eddie starts to dance manically, while everyone screams "Charles" at him. "Who the shit is Charles?" someone asks and the reply is prompt. "Oh, it's Eddie's piss-wasted alter Ego". Of course it is, don't question it, just empty your plastic cup and pass the joint.
