An acquired taste

An Acquired Taste is a filmmaker’s personal odyssey through the sordid worlds of spelling tests, cheerleading tryouts and frisbee matches. The roots of middle-class angst are finally brought to the silver screen.The 'taste' referred to is the taste of success--- that obsession with 'making it' built so deeply into western culture we can scarcely distinguish it from working, sleeping or eating. Yet the film is sociological documentary. There are no interviews with psychiatrists or experts; no analysis of life´s modern stresses or how we can lead fuller lives. This journey winds through slogans, murmurings, high school, advertisements, competitive sports, admonitions, dreams, awards and home movies. It is a whimsical peek just behind the smile of self-congratulation at the genuine fear it masks.