Take Another Look

When Sarah Seifer looks in the mirror, what she sees is a zit-faced fat teenager. She is, of course, neither riddled with acne nor obese, but Sarah's mind is being altered by a natural drug that's far more potent than what's sold on the streets: raging hormones. Sarah's living through the hell that's technically called adolescence. Take Another Look is a Canadian dramatic short that mixes elements of realism and fabulism to explore the subjects of self-image and self-esteem. Falling through the mirror, as Alice fell through the looking glass, Sarah walks the streets of illusion, where ad-quality beauty isn't even skin deep (it may be in the airbrush artist's pen), popular girls seem to be just mindless clones, and desperate exercyclers fight a neverending battle to completely eliminate all fat (sometimes leading to serious nutritional deficiencies). Back in the real world, Sarah realizes that she is a better weathervane concerning her looks and image than either Hollywood or her peers. And the final message of the tape is a good one: even so-called drop dead gorgeous guys and gals are plagued with the same self-doubts as everyone else. An excellent program on self-esteem which should appeal to younger teenage girls. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman)