Youth in Revolt is an obsessive tale of young love, its roots echoing as far back as Homer’s Odyssey. A boy falling in love with a girl; her parents being religious fanatics; boy and girl facing soul-searching tribulations in isolation; couple’s eventual freedom being won through arson, sabotage, manipulation, impersonation and misuse of Thanksgiving mushrooms. Perhaps a couple of distinctive twists on the old classic there, but nevertheless a tale made beautiful by the complexities characterising its simplicity, and rendered unforgettable by its mode of telling.
Based on C.D Payne’s series of journalistic novels revolving around teenage intellectual Nick Twisp (Michael Cera), director Miguel Arteta’s adaptation of this introverted character’s literary world achieves a sense of great intimacy between the teenager and his audience, in its on-screen explorations of the flaws he perceives in the many characters who permeate and shape his own. Twisp finds himself thrust back and forth between parents at their convenience, and, in his recognition of his divorced mother and father’s equally pitiable and transparent existences, newly tarred against the unfailing measuring stick of his own new-found love, an extreme detachment from the ugliness and dispassion of reality begins to emerge within him.
The absurd mixture of politeness and manipulation which resonates in Cera’s portrayal of Twisp’s character reflects the teenager’s acceptance and use of the world’s dispassion, whilst enabling him to reach beyond it, remaining steadfastly dedicated to his desire for Sheeni (Portia Doubleday), the girl who entranced him, one holiday, and whom he would risk everything to regain. The perspective and single-mindedness of the teenage mind is an aspect cherished by the film. The power of Twisp’s obsession with Sheeni causes him to reject all that defined his previous life and attempt to rebuild his existence around her. His inspiration being the fact that he does not understand her desires or behaviour, and that complexity is a unique trait to be considered a rarity in modern society, and a purveyor of innocence.
The distinctive nature of this film is extremely laudable, in the powerful surrealism of its humour and style, which at several points melts into pulp-fiction style animation, and the empowering nature of its suggestion that individuals create the reality of their own existence, a point toyed with in the more playful moments of the film. Twisp’s internal creation of a sexual French alter-ego, the ascot-toting, moustache-stroking, cigarette-smoking ‘Francoise’, invokes the potential of the individual to define himself, and the success of his endeavours. Francoise, as an absurd and yet powerfully-effective contrast to Twisp’s external character, finds himself employed by Twisp to deal favourably with the high-stress situations he invariably finds himself in, allowing for considerable comedic potential. This is exemplified by a scene in which an initial fight between Twisp and Francoise, both played by Cera, is umpired by the only surviving remnant of Twisp’s love for Sheeni, their adopted ‘love-child’, and possibly the ugliest dog in the world.
The convoluted and irreverent nature of this film elevates it far beyond the mere status of a teen movie. The repeated moments of bathos, and the exaltation of the freedom inherent to even the most restricted of teenage lives, demonstrated by the competitive manner in which Sheeni and Twisp vie the virtues of their imagined lovers, delve into the intimacy of a teenage world which embraces certain levels of both delusion and indulgence, in which the imaginary is a respected form of communication. The overall unification of this film and its modes of narrative as an intense exploration of the teenage self, experience and potential, render it an extremely powerful and wrenchingly funny experience.
4 stars
