“American Spirit,” written and directed by Christopher Yates, follows old friends Melody (Yasmeen Fletcher) and Jonathan (Cooper Roth) as they recount their high school years after they bump into each other one night during their junior year of college.
Heavily influenced by the coming-of-age movies before it, Yates designs a thematically rich story that takes place during college rather than high school like most films within the subgenre. The film tackles themes of growth and tries to capture the feeling of aimlessness many college students feel during their final two years of schooling. It succeeds due to Roth and Fletcher’s great performances. Given the cast and crew are all around the same age as college students, capturing the authentic “Where do I go from here?” tone of students in their 20s proved easy for them. It makes for a much more existential coming-of-age flick than most of the genre.
Yates’ great dialogue assists in that. The majority of this movie spends its time listening to the conversations of the characters as they contemplate their lives and fall back on old memories. The well-written romantic tension between the two leads leaves audiences wanting the ex-lovers to reunite with one another until the final act of the film wraps up the story, not only with the conclusion audiences wished for, but also answers to questions about the audience’s lives themselves.
Given that dialogue makes up most of the film’s story, the director of photography Eric Johnsen took on the tough task of making the film visually interesting to keep the audience’s attention to the story at hand. Johnsen succeeds by using camera movement to make audiences feel like an extra character watching from the sidelines while still leaving a lot of space around the actors during their wide shots to showcase the backgrounds. It evokes a depth that matches the contemplative tone of the story, dialogue and performances.
Yates’ and the cast and crew’s alumni status glitters as all of the film takes place at UT. Throughout the movie, the characters travel through West Campus, hitch a ride on the Austin buses, bust into abandoned classrooms and even stop at the Turtle Pond near the Tower. This only adds to the themes of nostalgia, especially for UT students who recognize nearly every location in the film.
“American Spirit” stands as a strong coming-of-age flick that will stick out in audiences’ minds due to its ability to engage viewers despite mostly relying heavily on dialogue. Excellent writing is held up even stronger by the two fantastic performances of the leads.
3 ½ packs of cigarettes out of 5
