Artist Afterschool

A disquieting, remarkably controlled first feature by 25-year-old writer-director Antonio Campos, Afterschool follows a baby-faced boarding-school freshman whose attachment to violent and pornographic Internet clips make him ill-equipped to handle two real deaths on campus. Owing debts to early Atom Egoyan, Frederick Wiseman’s High School (Campos names a character “Mr. Wiseman”), Gus Van Sant’s Elephant, and Michael Haneke (especially Benny’s Video), Campos has made a provocative and disturbing film about the YouTube generation.  

Updated 02/03/2010