All American High Revisited

All American High Revisited is a hairspray-scented time travel to an actual exchange year in California in 1984. Riikka "Rikki" Rauhala is a Finnish student who gets to experience all the lovely pool parties, prom nights and the carnival atmosphere in football games she has known only from TV and films. Through Rikki's narration we observe cultural differences and a school system almost a polar opposite to the Finnish one. American high school is all about social life and a place to study all kinds of crazy things. Yankee kids fix cars, rehearse getting married and reflect on divorce. Pipe dreaming and being spaced out are universal traits for teenagers, both in an outback Finnish town and in California. The bubble-gum-like colour palette and 1980's fashion trends step aside for the last 30 minutes as director-cinematographer Keva Rosenfeld asks Rikki and the other youths in the film how their dreams and expectations were met.
Text: Reetta Haarajoki / Translation: Tapio Reinekoski (DocPoint)