I missed Chronicle when it was released properly this winter. It garnered many strong reviews, but it was a busy time (aren’t they all?) and I just didn’t quite get there.
My friend Allen, who watches for these things, discovered that it had arrived at our local second run theater, so a couple of weekends ago, Bryon, Allen and myself headed over to watch Chronicle.
Chronicle is a shaky cam film. It starts off with the conceit that the most troubled boy in the film (social misfit who is bullied, beaten by his father, and emotionally traumatized waiting for his mother’s death) has decided to film everything about his life with a second-hand camera he has bought. The filming portion extends beyond this conceit, becoming security footage and personal footage from a peripheral character. This is perhaps the most troubling part of the film, because there’s no plot reason given for the lack of cohesion in shooting the footage, or any kind of rationale given for the compilation of the footage. Allen couldn’t get past that, and it ruined the film for him. I managed to side step it as the conceit it was (a style of film making, rather than part of the narrative) so I moved forward.
What about the story?
Well. I found the three powered boys conceivable. There was the aforementioned social misfit, a confident athlete/class president, and a semi-social intellectual. While teens around them fit stereotypes, and they themselves were representative of certain types, the portrayals of the boys were realistic enough that I could watch the film and not get caught up in the stereotypes.
The power of the movie, however, lies in the question of morality and using super powers. As predicted, our social misfit has too much going on his life to come out of all this well. A certain kind of romanticism would illustrate that the kid would turn out okay because he was given a chance to become something better because he has super powers. But this deeply troubled kid remains deeply troubled, even though he can now crush cars and rip animals apart. And that is interesting. This kid needs a way to control a life over which he has no control, a life of violence and belittlement. Super powers are the ultimate control.
His friends are grounded in a more conventional morality regarding the use of power. They are also higher in the pecking order of high school, culturally unable to conceive of the trials this kid is undergoing, and why he makes these choices. This doesn’t justify the kid’s choices, merely makes them understandable. As you can imagine, this can only end in conflict and tears as one hero struggles to control an out of control universe, and the other heroes struggle to do what they conceive as right and wrong.
Speaking as a former teacher of teens, I didn’t find this range of personalities or coping mechanisms impossible. It’s a fascinating character study, and I recommend the film.
As a former teacher of teens as well, it’s really kinda sad how many of them DO plug into the stereotypes. It’s their way of figuring out who they are.
I’ll probably not watch this, as I suspect it will only make me feel old ;o)