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The Myth of the American Sleepover
by: Ryan Aliapoulios
photo: © Aurélie Lamachère - Semaine de la Critique 2010
 For the average viewer, a teen movie might call to mind the bleeding-heart romantic films of John Hughes, or possibly a low-brow sex romp. Creating serious art within the genre is a challenge for filmmakers, but David Robert Mitchell has succeeded with his debut feature The Myth of the American Sleepover.
Although Mitchell had directed short films, his first feature opened the door to the film festival circuit—his film even made it to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. “We started out at South by Southwest (SXSW), that was our premiere,” he said. “It went really well and we started submitting for other festivals, and somebody [from Cannes] contacted us and said they were in.”
The film won the Ensemble Award at SXSW, and Mitchell said he was very gratified to see his film honored in such a way. One of these honored cast members was Claire Sloma, who was hailed as a breakout star at Cannes despite it being her first role. Press for the film included a CNN feature on the new actress.
“Most of the cast was from Michigan, and for a lot of them it was the first film they’d ever done,” Mitchell said. “I was very honored to have it happen for us and very excited for [my cast]. For them to have not had much acting experience and then for it to all come together in the end like that… I was very proud of them.”
Mitchell’s film leaves its mark on the teen genre in other ways as well. More specifically, Mitchell accomplished this with the help of his cinematographer, James Laxton.
“We wanted a very composed frame, maybe something even reminiscent of the late-70’s film look,” Mitchell said. “Something nostalgic, so you don’t necessarily read it in a particular time period. So people can project their own idea of what time it is onto the film.”
Mitchell’s film also returns to an earlier era of filmmaking with a more cerebral focus than modern teen fare. “The basic idea behind the film was to take the idea of these sort of myths that we have about what it’s like to grow up,” he said. “And we would take some of those scenarios and turn them on their head.”
Both in form and structure, The Myth of the American Sleepover strives for a human touch, and a definite non-Hollywood approach. Mitchell said that this was the crew’s intention all along.
“I want as many people to connect to it as possible,” he said. “The way I approached the relationships between the characters, I tried to have this very natural gentleness, and I think that that is what’s unique about it.”
The film is a breath of fresh air, balancing romance, sex, and seriousness with elegance—and all of this from a relatively inexperienced, local cast. Mitchell said his experiences with the film gave him optimism about the future success of Michigan and other local filmmakers as well.
“I think as long as people are trying to create something, to create art,” Mitchell said, “I think that’s a major step.”
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