Director: Jono McLeod
Starring: Alan Cumming, Clare Grogan, Lulu
Country of Origin: Scotland
When rejection, desperation and delusion collide the result is a story even the Sunday Sport or National Enquirer would examine closely before publishing.
The case of Brandon Lee, a 30-year-old man who returned to his former high school and posed as a 17-year-old student, was covered in such microscopic detail it will be familiar to anyone of a certain age in Scotland.
It probably didn’t attract the same attention anywhere else, and nearly 30 years later the outlandish tale is dissected in an absorbing documentary.
No spoiler alerts are required although it’s not worth regurgitating every single detail of an already well documented narrative.
Even the most basic research will reveal that Brian MacKinnon managed to pull off an elaborate ruse in a last-ditch attempt to win a place at medical school and fulfil his ambition to become a doctor.
MacKinnon used the fairly preposterous pseudonym of Brandon Lee – the same name as the son of Bruce Lee who had died months before the Scot found his old uniform in 1993 – to go back to his former high school and pose as a teenager at Bearsden Academy.
The most glaringly obvious omission is that MacKinnon, who appears in snippets of various interviews he gave to the mainstream media when his cover was blown, refuses to appear on camera. Instead, Alan Cumming is dressed up as a representation of the main protagonist and lip synced from an audio interview the man with far-fetched plan granted the filmmakers.
MacKinnon’s on-screen absence is stated at the very beginning with fresh insights coming from his classmates and teachers. Animated sequences depicting the ludicrous series of events run alongside the reminiscences with the first half devoted to the outrageous backstory behind MacKinnon’s reappearance at his old school.
Unravelling the confusing pile of lies as the truth emerges involves some startling revelations. Questions centre on his family’s involvement in the deception and how he pulled the wool over so many sceptical eyes.
From hiding in plain sight, (as MacKinnon succinctly puts it) dubiety surfaces about a kiss with a young student when he incredibly took the lead role in the school play. Just how he magically persuaded the notoriously strict school deputy to accept him in a fantastical admission interview is also questioned.
It’s a relatively sympathetic portrayal of a pretentious character who claims to have powers of mind control, a disproportionately high IQ and describes his time at school as an awful hell with the other students’ mere nonentities in the entire process.
While MacKinnon has completely distanced himself from the documentary there is a tinge of sadness in the recollections of former classmates, some of whom somehow still hold him in high regard. Not everyone was misled though. Several doubts are raised although the man-boy is spared a barrage of cruel criticism.
The cartoonish interludes, with the voices of Lulu and Clare Grogan among others, add a dash of comedy. The posh Glasgow suburb of Bearsden and its inhabitants, the school’s Batman-esque headmaster and easily duped deputy that insisted on class salutes are also lightly mocked.
Thankfully, no subtitles are added, unlike some other easily understandable Scottish films, with the participants deemed well-spoken enough to be universally understood. Some of the great Glasgow patter also sneaks in.
Compelling for its oddities and preposterous fabrications it doesn’t do MacKinnon any favours. A well edited final montage shows the school pictures of the students alongside footage of them in their current occupations.
While everyone else has moved on MacKinnon, now a virtual recluse who still lives in Bearsden, is still seemingly attempting to gain entry to any medical school that will take him. Good luck with that.
For a film that took decades to be realised the one major fault is that its subject is not there for us to see on screen. We don’t get to see any of his reactions, good, bad, or indifferent, although his aloof demeanour is apparent in the tone of his voice.
Cumming does a fantastic job as a stand-in for MacKinnon, who understandably rejected the chance to be in the limelight again, in what is a staggering retelling of an inconceivable hoax.
Stephen Kasiewicz 