Frontrunners
by Caroline Suh
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Stuyvesant High SchoolDirector: Caroline Suh
Brand: Oscilloscope Laboratories
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 82 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-01-20
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Oscilloscope
Product features:
- FRONTRUNNERS is a smart and funny political documentary that follows the student council presidential campaign at one of the country s most prestigious public high schools: Stuyvesant High School in New York City. Follow 4 charming and idiosyncratic candidates as they navigate an electoral process that is said to be one of the most competitive at the high school level. These teenaged candidates fa
Movie Reviews of Frontrunners
Movie Review: Student Elections
Summary: 5 Stars
Frontrunners is a delightful film about the student elections at Stuyvesant High School. Stuyvesant is obviously not the typical high school, but the student elections are definitely similar to most student elections at any other high school in the United States. It makes for an interesting insight into how student elections work and how similar they are to the presidential elections.
I started watching Frontrunners right after I watched a movie called "Palindromes" which just so happens to feature Hannah Freiman as one of the main actors. I didn't realize that she would be in both films, and it caught me by surprise. However, after watching Palindromes, it was neat seeing Hannah as a real person rather than her character in Palindromes. Her character is a really awkward 13-year-old that is trying to get pregnant, so it was interesting to see that Hannah was actually a popular cheerleader in real life.
I thought the whole documentary was entertaining and very funny. The students running in the elections pretty much made the film. If the students were boring and mundane, the film would have been much of the same. However, I suppose students that choose to run in the elections are typically interesting characters. I found George to be extremely entertaining, and it didn't even seem as though he was acting that way because he was being filmed. It seemed like he acts in that manner every day.
The documenting of the student elections seemed organic; it didn't seem contrived as if there was a camera following the students around. I'm sure that there was not a camera in the students' faces the whole time during the election, but obviously, there was a camera there for all the parts that we saw.
Overall, I thought the film was great!
Summary of Frontrunners
FRONTRUNNERS - DVD MovieCaroline Suh?s directorial debut, Frontrunners, is a charming, candid, and almost scary glimpse into the advanced levels of student sophistication in America?s top high schools. In this case, Suh, who has copious experience as a documentary producer, put her documentary research skills to use at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, an elite school in which students who aren?t admitted to Top Ten colleges are considered total rejects by their peers. Frontrunners charts the arc of the student government elections, starring four kids who want the presidency. Mike Zaytsev, Hannah Freiman, Alex Leonard, and George Zisiadis each select running mates and crave victory with varying degrees of conviction. The documentary is comprised of interview footage with the candidates at school, at home, and sometimes features the parents of the chosen few, expressing concerns about the pressures that are placed upon their children to succeed. The levels of competition are astounding; one scene capturing their "televised" debates shows how this school simulates real-life for hardcore training. Though the interviews are often hilarious, what really carries the film is ample footage of the candidates planning and enacting strategies. George, who seems to have been born to become president, cooks up political platforms as naturally as a thuggish student may shoot spitwads onto the classroom?s ceiling. Hannah, whose office bulletin board commemorates her trips to film festivals and theater events, is extremely well-poised in front of a camera, resulting from what some may attribute to having been privy from her early years to a cultured lifestyle. So, as the presidential race unfurls, one sees not only a cutthroat teenage contest but also the ways in which students are shaped by their home lives. Frontrunners should provide proof to parents and public schools alike that youth will indeed succeed if one sets expectations and opportunity high. Bravo to Oscilloscope Laboratories (owned by Beastie Boy Adam Yauch) for releasing this humorously inspiring film. --Trinie Dalton
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