SPONTANEOUS

US, 2020, 101 minutes, Colour.

Katherine Langford, Charlie Plummer, Hayley Law, Yvonne Orji, Piper Perabo, Rob Huebel.

Directed by Brian Duffield.

If ever there was a film directed towards an older teen audience, Spontaneous is it. It also has a classification that marks it is not suitable for those under 15. There is a lot of crass language throughout the film, taken for granted. There is also the issue of popular drug use amongst high school students – and some parents. And there are sexual issues.

Audiences, possibly 30 and over, might find this immersion into the teenage world more than trying. Audiences 40 and over, will definitely find the experience more than trying.

Those who support the film are very strong in reminding commentators that the whole thing is a metaphor, linking it to the random shootings in American schools, from Columbine on, a series of violent attacks on the young. These attacks and killings make life as a teenager at home and at school somewhat precarious, wondering what the next attack will bring and when it will happen that life is more transient than they thought.

So, the metaphor is about spontaneous combustion amongst the students, suddenly in the classroom, in a school corridor, at an outing… And, over a period of months, the number increases so that the class where the explosions occur become more carefully supervised, on medication, in special class situations with special agents and teachers, moving the students towards graduation.

The central character, Mara, is played by Katherine Langford (originally from Perth). She gives the impression of being completely self-confident, with posturing, language, assertion to match. She has a good friend from infant school days who tries to keep an eye on her and control her, offering some critique. The friend also wants to graduate. Mara also has a secret admirer who is revealed as a fellow student who has newly come to the school, Dylan (Charlie Plummer, Words on Bathroom Walls, All the Money in the World, Lean on Pete). He is rather shy, somewhat awkward, more than a touch romantic, becoming more involved with Mara, ultimately sexually.

Mara is supported by her parents who try to make her at ease, smoking the drugs with her. Mara drinks a lot, often drunk, confronting teachers and agents, especially in her graduation speech.

When Dylan explodes, Mara feels bereft – and, in discussions at the end of the film, she admits her diffidence, her low self-image. However, with the explosion metaphor, and her discussions with Dylan’s mother, the verdict is that “life sucks”. But, there is a somewhat hopeful conclusion that while life might be short, uncertain, we still have life until it is taken away and therefore the most to be made of it. There is a tongue in cheek ending when Mara tells us that she could be President of the United States and there is a glimpse of her taking the oath of office!