Focusing on Life in High School

In the emotionally rewarding PBS series “American High” earlier this year, documentarian R.J. Cutler handed video cameras to several students in suburban Chicago and told them to record their lives.

In tonight’s Cinemax documentary “Chain Camera,” filmmaker Kirby Dick duplicates the process with students at John Marshall High School in Los Angeles. The results are just as candid and revealing yet somewhat discouraging.

The premise: Video cameras were given to 10 students who chronicled their lives in 1999, reflecting on romance, race relations and self-esteem. After a week, the cameras were given to another 10 students. Like chain letters, the cameras moved through the student body for an entire school year, with Dick selecting 16 of the teens for his 90-minute project.

Rosemary, a senior whose father walked out on her family as a child, is thinking of becoming a stripper when she turns 18. Tim, a pro-wrestling fan who grapples with friends at home, has never had a girlfriend. Cinnamon, a lesbian, says she “didn’t have that really great high school experience [with boys]. I felt really alone.” Fortunately, she found happiness with a girlfriend named Jennifer.

Winfred, whose mother in Chicago sent him to live with his uncle in Los Angeles, can’t play football because he failed math. Amy, a band member, seems relatively content but is insecure about her looks. Insecurity is a trait shared by several of the pupils appearing on the program.

While the documentary offers an interesting view of teenage angst, perhaps it would have been stronger if we were watching a wider range of students. In other words, where are the athletes or overachievers participating in student council, yearbook and other activities on campus?

Dick wraps it up with a look at graduation day, which gives his documentary a satisfying sense of closure.

*

“Chain Camera” can be seen tonight at 7 on Cinemax. The network has rated it TV-MA (may be unsuitable for children younger than 17).