Only the Young/Tchoupitoulas

A double-bill of teenager-themed documentaries that take different tacks in terms of narrative and style, this set leads off with Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims's Only the Young, a straightforward, affecting snapshot of a year in the life of highschoolers Garrison, Kevin, and Skye, who live in Santa Clarita, CA. Garrison and Kevin are skateboarders, and Skye is Garrison's on-and-off girlfriend. As we watch the guys travelling to a contest, or Garrison and Skye hooking up with other dates, or Kevin wondering whether Garrison has made it to his graduation ceremony, Only the Young offers plenty of moments of recognition, and the anticipation of the trio's coming separation carries surprising emotional punch. Bill and Turner Ross's Tchoupitoulas, by contrast, serves up an impressionistic, picaresque portrait of three young brothers, who visit nearby New Orleans (with their dog in tow), where they are forced to spend the night after missing the last ferry back to the island where they live. The film captures a heady mix of sights and sounds as the siblings wander around, marked by street music, dancing, and chance meetings with harmless eccentrics, all of it punctuated by occasional bursts of narration from William, the youngest boy. Both films are engaging slice-of-life pieces about contemporary youth. Recommended. (F. Swietek)