Name: Surviving 7th Grade
Genre: Short
Duration: 7 min
Rating: 6.6
Cast: Melissa Umana, Luke Napier, Gail Press

Before YouTube and its social brethren took over, film students were apparently still cranking out annoying junk like this UCLA-backed effort, pretty embarrassing to watch.

Premise is of course self-expression as a couple of tweens suffering through adolescent taunting (very poorly written and directed, as classmates make fun of one of them being overweight) and "survive" through good ole rock & roll.

It's trite in the extreme, and just as stupid to watch as I'm sure it would have been to be a fly on the wall watching me practicing dance steps to "Mashed Potato Time" on my record player nearly 50 years ago when I was in Junior High.

Of course, this ephemeral nonsense becomes a nationally broadcast item via PBS's Short Film competition weekly out of NYC. The programming of this Saturday night double feature is consistently poor, so I guess it's the proper scrap heap for SURVIVING THE 7TH GRADE to end up in. The neophyte director later worked with Kevin Smith, success or purgatory depending upon one's overall view of cinema and its discontents.

The short form refers to creative works characterized by their brevity and concise storytelling. Unlike full-length feature films, short films have a running time of less than 45 minutes, while TV shorts have a running time of less than 22 minutes.

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Surviving 7th Grade

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