American Vandal. Series 1 A smart and clever ‘mockumentary’ that manages to make some sound and thoughtful comments about schools and young peoples’ lives.

https://youtu.be/PKzZfoR8RmI

Enjoyed this almost as much as its successor about which I  recently posted. It has a very effective –school produced feel about it which helped to endear it to the viewer.

All the usual tropes of Netflix true Crime series were there and they were smartly, but in a quietly effective e manner, parodied but this never detracted from the genuine drama and narrative drive about the focus of the documentary. I also liked the way that a fair amount of footage was repeated – both accurate as per the characteristics of these sort of shows, but also particularly appropriate given the lack of experience of the makers. The film was both a plausible High School film and a smart parody of a very popular format

But it was (again) the final episode that was the most effective as the negative fall-out from the documentary became apparent. It caused much damage to many people and the makers’ awareness of this by the end was powerfully effective. This was emphasized by the fact that the makers were focusing on their own environment (the high school) and some quite powerful pints were made about the long-lasting impact of high school experiences on people who are only just beginning to discover who and what they are.

An excellent piece of work.

Happy Valley Season 2. Remarkably, absolutely the equal of Series 1

American Vandal. Series 2: Ostensibly a ‘mockumentary' but ends up as a serious and thought-provoking documentary.