My Old School

This is a very fun and fair documentary about an interesting case, a real-life 'Never Been Kissed'. The story is told cleverly, revealing new twists and angles to things you were told earlier in the movie. Since the main subject agreed only to an oral interview, the filmmaker hired the brilliant Alan Cummings to provide a face to lip-synch the words of the main subject --- so well done you don't even notice that it is lip-synching.

Recommended.

This is a hella story about a spoiled man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants - which is to become a medical doctor.

It would have been a brilliant hour long program, but at 1:50, it was painfully long.

Let's face it, Brandon Lee, or whatever name(s) he is using today, tomorrow, next week, is a sick human being who cannot understand the word nor tolerate the word "No."

And he admits that he still has "some tricks up his sleeves" in order to get into a medical school. Scary mf.

Sadly, his grand/mother was in on everything so he had help in this vile deception. Just what you want in your doctor.

The only good thing he did was to help Stefen become a pharmacist.

It would've been easy for this documentary to follow the current trend of stitching up it's protagonist, in this case Brandon Lee, and to haul him over the proverbial coals for the duration..

However, Jono McLeod has taken a much fresher approach to this than most people would perhaps have expected.

Rather than be patronised and led in an all too obvious direction, the viewer is trusted to draw their own conclusions from the interviews given throughout, by McLeod, Lee, and their grown up classmates.

And therein lies one of the beautiful things about My Old School. Although the main story is already known, any preconceived notions or views are quickly dispelled, as we're introduced to a variety of Lee's former school chums - some closer to the man during his ruse than others.

It's these former classmates that keep this documentary grounded in reality, as they recall the many, and at times bizarre, encounters with Brandon during their penultimate year at high school.

Another major plus of this documentary is, just when you think you've got the whole story worked out, McLeod reveals another twist or turn. Some coming so far out of left field that you'll wonder just what has happened, and more importantly, why?

The director gently opens the many doors of the story, revealing surprises with an ease that keeps the viewer almost enchanted by Lee's growing deceptions. It's this brilliantly paced, and deliberate, drip feed of information that helps the narrative grow from straightforward, if somewhat bizarre scam, to one of almost Machiavellian proportions.

At times funny and exciting, others sad and poignant, My Old School provides many different and diverse points of view, and gets to what's essentially the untold truth of this 27 year old story.

However, a second watch will be more than intriguing, with the benefit of having all the information to hand, as the story unravels again.

As Lee only granted an audio interview, in a master stroke of genius, he's healthily portrayed on screen by Alan Cumming, who performs Drag Race levels of lip-syncing, and captures the essence of the real life Scottish Walter Mitty whom he was meant to play in a film two decades before.

That the film maker was a former school mate of this outrageous fraudster gives it its charm and sense of fun, its best parts come from this past and yet it is the source of its weak points. Jono the film maker lazily settles with ''it was a laugh'' ''Oh I was completely taken in, omg''. The viewers would say ''Didn't you wanna do some more digging? We have got more than we want to know about his, Bearden? School days, but how did he manage at Dundee University after successfully duping everyone at school? Did he fool medic students up until he didn't? How did he get caught in the end?

Dundee is only 90 min drive away from Glasgow. Why didn't you go and interview his tutors at the medical school or his university friends, for example, yes, his nemesis Cheryl? Also, a decade previously he allegedly failed at Glasgow medical school. Was he dumb? Then his whole pursuit of medical career seems risible, or was he simply unlucky? Come on, Glasgow University must be a few bus stops away from you, Jono. How it didn't interest you to know more about Brian McKinnon the man, your friend and neighbour, instead of settling down with ''Brandon Lee' what a laugh he was''? The film maker is lacking in curiosity.

I do feel sorry for the individual that this film is based upon. It's almost a nothing story really and only in the UK and Scotland would the events of his rather tortured life be a scandal.

People live their lives and dreams in a myriad of ways. This documentary is the story of one such person. A young man with a dream who re-invented himself to achieve a goal that was only possible by doing so. With the help of his mother they conspired a fake identity - for no malicious reason and not due to any dark history- to help him achieve his life dream.

This is a unique film that includes a bizarre range of styles, including animation. More than the actual story...which normally wouldn't justify a film, it is the techniques of the production that real you in and keep you real. It's a strange but entrancing ride. Highly recommended- I doubt you've seen anything like it.

I hope the central character found eventual happiness. There is a sadness in the telling of his story.