The Adventures Of Sebastian Cole ***1/2
rated R 112 minutes starring Adrian Grenier, Clark Gregg, Aleksa Palladino, Margaret Colin, John Shea, Marni Lustig written and directed by Tod Williams
Late in "The Adventures Of Sebastian Cole", there is a prom scene. But it's not a normal high school movie prom scene. A conversation arises between the title character and his friends, about how different their prom is from proms they've seen on film, that it prompts Sebastian to say, "I hate those high school movies."
Don't we all?
But Tod Williams' "The Adventures Of Sebastian Cole" turns Ferris Bueller flat on his face, bringing us a high-school flick that is offbeat, unsentimental and dead-on. The structure of "Sebastian Cole" is set up so that we, the viewer, get to experience the randomness of adolescence.
Sebastian Cole (Adrian Grenier) is a 17-year-old slacker who lives in upstate New York with his stepfather (Clark Gregg), his mother (Margaret Colin) and his sister (Marni Lustig). One day, the father calls a family meeting to announce that he is going to have surgery in order to become a woman. Sebastian's sister throws a fit and runs off to California, while Sebastian leaves with his mother to England.
But after six months in an uptight school, he leaves his neurotic mom and comes back to New York to start his new life with Hank/Henrietta, his stepfather/stepmother. Sebastian continues to do poorly in school, and announces that he just wants to "live" more, and the movie becomes his adventures.
His adventures include an up-and-down relationship with a girl (Aleksa Palladino), riding his bike at top speed through the halls of school, and seeing what happens when he drinks way too much.
Writer/director Tod Williams has the 80's mood down perfectly, but he is helped by two amazing performances. As Sebastian, newcomer Adrian Grenier ("Hurricane Streets") pulls off a more-than-believable portrayal of teenage angst, but it is Clark Gregg, as Hank/Henrietta who steals the show. He is exceptional without being over-the-top, and I can see a starring role for him in the near future.
Since many questions are left unanswered, many will leave "The Adventures Of Sebastian Cole" baffled. But Tod Williams has infused a subtle grace to the seemingly shaky structure, and he shows that in teenage life, the answers aren't always there.
"The Adventures Of Sebastian Cole" is not a great film, but it is one of the most original portrayals of adolescence that I've ever seen. Tod Williams has made an excellent first film, a film with the quirkiness of John Irving, but with a style all his own.
a review by Akiva Gottlieb, The Teenage Movie Critic akiva@excite.com http://teenagemoviecritic.8m.com
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