My Old School: Alan Cumming Lip-Synchs Life into this Fascinating Doc on a U.K. Scandal
By Thom Ernst
Rating: A
My Old School starts off with a gimmick. The film's subject, who wishes not to appear in the movie but is willing to provide audio commentary, is played by actor Alan Cumming. He effectively lip-syncs the subject’s pre-recorded dialogue.
Cumming reveals a startling example of the kind of talent an extraordinary actor processes. So often, good acting is veiled within the cadence and delivery of the speaker. But Cumming doesn't have a voice in the movie, at least not one that is his.
Brandon Lee, a student with a secret, makes his mark at Bearsden Academy.
And yet he masterfully recreates the nuances of the subject's words, from nervous laughter, fitting glances, and faultless delivery.
A gimmick, no matter how mesmerizing nor clever, should not have to carry an entire movie. But before this gimmick has a chance to grow tired, My Old School has hooked on to a story that is at once amusing, magical, and heartbreaking.
My Old School is the story of Brandon Lee. Not the late Brandon Lee of The Crow fame (although he does make an incidental posthumous appearance).
This Brandon Lee is the son of a Canadian female opera singer who died in a car crash. He was sent to live with his grandmother in Bearsden, Scotland, where he was enrolled in the Bearsden Academy, a somewhat prestigious school set in a well-to-do neighbourhood.
If you don't already know the story around Brandon Lee and the scandal he brought to Bearsden Academy, then do yourself a favour and fight the urge to Google his name or that of the Academy. My Old School is more fun when you don't know where it's going.
The film shocks, but in ways that fascinate rather than repulse—although there is one potentially triggering indiscretion during a high school production of South Pacific. Director Jono McLeod frames his movie as though it were a high-school comedy. The opening credits look like the opening credit sequence from Grease 2.
The story does centre on Brandon. But it’s filled with various other characters, including a cape-wearing headmaster the students dub Batman, a cantankerous admissions officer, a charming young sex-education teacher, a bullied student and namesake, and an assortment of colourful, witty, and lively classmates.
Watching these children as adults make you wish you too went to Bearsden Academy.
McLeod takes the camera into a classroom (not the classroom as the Academy no longer exists), bringing in now-adult students who were Brandon's classmates. Part of the film is talking heads, and some of it is news footage, most of it animated.
It all works. However, the film's narrative structure requires a certain amount of repetition, once without full knowledge, then again with full knowledge. It's a minor glitch in an otherwise dynamically told tale.
Much can be said about the film’s dive into areas of mental health, teenage lifestyles, the school system, privilege, opportunities, and coming of age.
The most important takeaway is the story of second chances. But to make that dive into those areas would reveal too much of what the film has to offer (although the filmmaker's synopsis doesn't keep many secrets).
Still, despite the widespread media sensation, some (my hand is raised) are unaware of the turmoil Brandon Lee caused the town of Bearsden. Even the interviewees who lived the story are caught learning things they never knew.
My Old School is an original, fascinating, and compelling documentary that tacks on a gimmick to better tell its story. Although Cumming’s participation can't fairly be called a gimmick if his role makes the film work.
Then again, maybe only an actor of Cumming's skill can turn a gimmick into something essential.
CLICK HERE for Bonnie Laufer’s video interview with Alan Cumming and director Jono McLeod.
My Old School. Directed by Jono McLeod. Starring Alan Cumming. Opening July 29 in Toronto (Hot Docs) and Vancouver (Vancity) and throughout the summer in other cities.