Here’s an excerpt from Matt Wolf’s documentary ‘Teenage’, that approaches teen rebellion head-on. Above, we are introduced to the story of 1920s socialite, Brenda Dean Paul, perfectly narrated by Ben Whishaw with lots of compassion. Considered the Lindsay Lohan of her time, Wolf explains to NOWNESS the love hate relationship people had with Paul by saying, ‘The public loved to hate her. She was wealthy, famous for being famous, + the paparazzi were obsessed with her.’
The look of the film was achieved by Wolf using old hand-crank 16mm film cameras, making duplicates of prints + then hand-scratching + transferring them, which created layers of degradation. Along with the aged look of the film, the interesting soundtrack was provided by Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox. Wolf’s artistic goals for the film included bringing the nostalgic quality to Bradford’s music but still sounding like a totally new sound + remixing material from the past in a way that feels contemporary. Had I not known about the subject, at first sight, I could’ve sworn it was a Warhol flick.
In the film, Whishaw says about Paul + others like her, ‘Did she really think she would stay young forever? Yes. Probably, in the moment we all did. We were just too tired to break away.’ But isn’t that always the case?
‘Teenage’ is set to drop March 14 in the US.
(via NOWNESS)