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My Old School is a 2022 documentary directed by Jono McLeod on the subject of the Brandon Lee scandal. In 1995, it was discovered that "Brandon Lee", who had a year earlier enrolled as a fifth-year student at Bearsden Academy secondary school in Bearsden, Scotland, had actually been a 30-year-old former student, Brian MacKinnon, posing as a 17-year-old. The story attracted widespread and sensational news coverage at the time.[5][6]

My Old School
Promotional poster
Directed by	Jono McLeod
Produced by	John Archer Olivia Lichtenstein
Starring	Alan Cumming Clare Grogan Lulu
Cinematography	George Geddes
Edited by	Berny McGurk[1]
Music by	Shelly Poole
Production companies	Creative Scotland Hopscotch Films
Distributed by	Dogwoof (United Kingdom) Magnolia Pictures (United States)
Release dates	January 24, 2022 (2022-01-24) (Sundance) July 22, 2022 (2022-07-22) (United States)
Running time	115 minutes[2]
Countries	Scotland United States
Language	English
Box office	$279,743[3][4]

McLeod, the film's director, was one of MacKinnon's peers at Bearsden academy. The story of MacKinnon's time at Bearsden and his unmasking are told through a combination of present-day interviews with MacKinnon's classmates and teachers, cartoon recreations, and archival footage. MacKinnon agreed to be interviewed for the film, but did not wish to appear on camera, so the actor Alan Cumming appears as an avatar for MacKinnon, lip syncing to the audio of his interviews.[5]

The film premiered virtually in January at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.[1]

Synopsis

My Old School tells the story of MacKinnon's time at Bearsden and subsequent outing and media coverage in chronological order. MacKinnon's deception is not revealed until around halfway through the film, at the point in the story at which MacKinnon's peers discover it, effectively positioning the audience in their point of view. The film also withholds any contemporary photographs or footage of MacKinnon before this point.[2]

McLeod interviewed a number of MacKinnon's classmates and teachers, often in pairs, and they, along with MacKinnon himself, embodied by Alan Cumming, provide much of the film's narration. Interviews were conducted on sets designed to resemble the classrooms of Bearsden (the actual schoolhouse having been demolished years earlier).[2]

The story is also told via cartoon recreations voiced by professional voice actors, including the Scottish actresses Clare Grogan and Lulu.[2] The visual style of these cartoon sequences has been compared by a number of commentators to the animated sitcom Daria, which aired on MTV between 1997 and 2002.[2][1][7] These cartoons sequences are scored with contemporary pop music.[2]

It also included a clip of the school production of South Pacific, where he played Lieutenant Cable, ironically shown singing "Younger Than Springtime". The clip showing a prolonged kiss with his 16-year-old co-star constitutes a marked revelation of the overall film.[6]

Release

Before its premiere, My Old School was picked up for worldwide release by Dogwoof, a British film distributor specializing in documentaries.[8] It premiered virtually in January at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. It was subsequently screened at a number of other 2022 film festivals, including:

• the Dublin International Film Festival[1]
• the Glasgow Film Festival[1]
• the Belgian film festival Docville[1]
• Toronto's Hot Docs documentary film festival[7]

It was picked up by distributor Magnolia Pictures for a July 22 North American release.[1]

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 93% based on 88 reviews, with an average rating of 7.50/10.[9]

References

External links

• My Old School at IMDb

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