Everybody's Working for the Weekend, Pt. 4

THEY PUT THE "YOUTH" IN "YOUTHANASIA"

Starring Bakersfield boy Justin Zachary, "Youthanasia" made it's local premiere Saturday night and I was there for a practically packed house inside the Empty Space, which for once, was not as hot as the inside of an Easy Bake Oven.

The film was told in a non-linear style and the script, originally a play, was written nearly ten years ago. It was bemusing to watch as it reminded me of a much less naked and hateful mining of the same territory Larry Clark tackled in "Kids." In the film, teens were portrayed as the sex obsessed, drunken emotional beasts that they are as opposed to that squeaky clean version of teendome Hilary Duff has been shilling at the multiplex for the past three years.

Like "Kids" and Justin Lin's "Better Luck Tomorrow" parents are a non-entity in the film. The teens drift in and out of lives, floating on the cusp of adulthood with little or no supervision; beset by a world where everyone's parents seem to be divorced, too busy working or just not emotionally there. At 70-minutes, the film is edited at a clip, with scenes (some related; some not) bouncing around in the collective memory of Zachary's tragic figure "Tommy."

All of "The DeLorean Theory of Wrongness and Rightness" work to Justin's advantage in the film as he's innocent, charming, thuggish, warm, vulgar, raunchy, child-like, hopeless, loving, awkward, gangly, disarming, lustful and ridiculous. And sometimes he's all that in just one scene as he goes through the schizophrenic field of emotions that is being 17. Teaj Sanderson, who played the aggressive yet cowardly, Doug, delivered all his lines with a bite meant to emasculate anyone in earshot. And Ian Carlson was sweet and puppy dog-like as the tragically effeminate, sensitive boy-child Steve. The three of them were great together and lent the film authenticity since it made sense why this friendship dynamic would work "pre-tragic event that ruins everyone's lives," but not post-tragic event. In high school they're all equals. In the real world they're not even on the same planet. Steve's a brainy preppy. Doug's a slacker and there was just something very "white ghetto" about Justin's Tommy. He didn't sound like a rapper or act like one even, but I've always been a strong believer that some attributes are simply a state of mind and Tommy's state looked a lot like systematic urban oppression meets the mini-malls of Modesto.

It was interesting to watch a guy who'd offered me a beer an hour ago have sex on screen while his mother and grandmother were in the audience, but that's the world of acting. But it was a welcome change of pace, since the last time I was at the Empty Space I watched men paw frantically at other men in the throws of passion for the umpteenth time this year. Not that I have a problem with that, but, a lot of that's been going around lately. Theatrically. In town.

Teaj was at the showing of the film which also starred Shannon Lucio, who's best known for playing "Lindsay Garner" on Fox's "The O.C." I'll be honest, I've never watched one episode of this show and have always been under the impression that Benjamin McKenzie, one of the show's leads, looks way too old to play a teenager.

Teaj is a curly-headed blonde charmer, the polar opposite of his friendly, but jerky-ass character. That's not to say he doesn't look like he's capable of incredible mischief, but he's way too metro to ever be mistaken for Doug, who if his character had the grades would have gone to a large state school and become the leading candidate for "Accessory to Frat Boy Date Drug Rapist." As in, he wouldn't be the guy who planned the thing, but he would have gone with it because of peer pressure, then would be the one trying to cowardly justify it all to the girl by saying, "Hey! I at least pulled your dress down afterwards then took you home. You should thank me because the other Delta Chi guys just going to leave you out there on the tarmac!" And the ever popular, "You were totally into it! How was I supposed to know they gave you roofies!"

But I digress.

Teaj jokingly asked for a shout-out to his handsomeness, which includes the aforementioned blonde curls, his mischief-making smile and rock hard abs, seen briefly during a pool scene and a beach scene in "Youthanasia."

Here's to Teaj's abs: They're lovely.