My Old School★★★★

High school is often a time of personal growth and change, and many people have strong emotional connections to this period of their lives. For Brandon Lee ( Alan Cumming) and his classmate, it was an experience of their life.

Little did Brandon’s schoolmates know they were part of something much bigger than just being his friends. My old school is a documentary about deception and the psychology behind taking extreme steps to achieve or at least try to fulfil a goal, regardless of the consequences.

Despite the dark theme of the film, the atmosphere appears light-hearted and harmless-memories full of kindness and friendship. However, as the story unfolds, doubt dominates the interviews held by the filmmakers. Many different perspectives set in as the interviewees analyse and recall past events with footage none of them had seen before.

One of the things the film showed was the precise observation about how the human brain changes reality with its interpretation of events. Nevertheless, this documentary is fascinating in more ways than one. One of which is when the protagonist did not want to show his face in the interview, so the filmmakers let Alan Cumming lip synced his voice while acting as Brandon Lee in front of the camera. I thought about how creative it was to do it that way. Another thing was the animations used to tell the back story and show flashbacks of the events- making it seem more natural and closer to the recollection of all parties involved.

To top it all off, Cummings was brilliant in his role as Brandon. He did outstanding in the interview and embodied the role as if it was Brandon himself. Cummings captivated and engaged me very well as a viewer. Altogether, this documentary is a must-see, for it is a one-of-a-kind true story that will leave you feeling warm, comforted and uneasy with more questions than when you started watching the film.