I watched the weirdest pair of movies over the last few days.  They aren’t intended to be viewed together, it’s just that…

I had read about Colma: The Musical and it sounded interesting enough to have a look.  It’s an indie film about teenaged angst written by H. P. Mendoza who also portrays one of the three main characters.

It is indeed a musical, but it’s a whole different slant on things.  While there are some comic moments, this isn’t a funny film as the kids wander around doing the things teenagers do like buying drinks on fake IDs, figuring out sexuality - both in terms of activity and orientation and using the hard core four-letter words as basic vocabulary whenever there isn’t a teacher or parent around.  Mostly they’re worrying about what they’re going to do when highschool is over (college doesn’t seem to be an option) and they have no more safety net.

The movie isn’t great and is probably only worth seeing once - but it does have its good points. The story is straight-forward; there are no guessing games here.  The music is adequate, if not spectacular and the acting is reasonably good.  But most of all, these kids actually sound like teenagers and I’m not sure the film isn’t worth watching just for that.  This is not Frankie and Annette on the beach :)

After that, for some demented reason, I felt I had to see High School Musical which seems to be well thought of.  I guess maybe in the recesses of my little mind, I thought it would be amusing to do a compare and contrast with Colma - both musicals and both dealing with what it is to be a teenager.

Trust me - there isn’t anything here that you haven’t seen before.  Teen boy and teen girl hook up under improbable and unlikely circumstances and despite spiteful antagonists and selfish “friends” manage to shine through, together, to the end.

This one is Frankie and Annette, Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney - all the cute little teenage movies that have rolled down through the decades.  It’s just set in a highschool instead of on the beach or out in Judge Hardy’s garage.  Inoffensive is about the best you can say for it.  The production values are decent - this is Disney, after all.  However, the story is so trite and the music and acting so pedestrian that nice sets hardy matter.

This is a family film in the classic, if not the best sense.  There’s nothing there that’s going to offend anybody.  There also isn’t anything there that would interest or excite anyone - or even keep them awake :)

Colma is most definitely not a family film - but even if it’s not very good, it’s better and truer than High School Musical.  Mendoza is going to be someone to watch, I think.