I understand that my crowd has been belting out, “Where is your ‘Avengers: Endgame’ review??!”. Listen. It is going to be on my “Top 5 Best Films of the Year So Far” post later this week and it’s going to be truly hip.
Meanwhile, my “turbulent” perspective is onto a really energetic and relatable pop-star story that has been done countless amounts of times starring Elle Fanning called “Teen Spirit”. This film has only made into unfortunately one week at the worldwide box office and it is extremely sad to hear. It is a very under-appreciated film that has a message and flows very beautifully.
Violet (Elle Fanning) is a teenager who lives in a rural area where horses need their constant feedings. She has an interesting background as Violet is soon interested in joining a competition called “Teen Spirit”, a competition where teenagers can be rising stars kind of like “The X Factor” and “American Idol”. Violet wants to do this because she obviously likes to sing, but in her free time.
Often in Violet’s life, there is this bar where people can choose to sing karaoke and she encounters this Croatian man named Vlad (Zlatko Buric). He has very strong values for Violet’s singing style when she sings at the bar. Violet then tells Vlad about the singing competition because she has to be abound with a guardian or a parent according to the last time she tried out there.
Violet and Vlad are then accepted as both teenager and guardian respectively in the competition. So she finally arrives on the stage and guess what? The judges really love her singing, but they say that she needs to work on stuff like breathing within song hesitations. However, Violet is granted by the judges later to advance in London.
In London, Violet is faced to compete with two other teenage acts to win “Teen Spirit”. She ultimately faces a loss to the champion Angel X and feels entirely upset that she lost. The next day, Violet gets an unexpected call from the competition where she is excitedly known that she is advancing to the finals.
There unfolds the huge gap of the story. If Violet officially loses in the competition, she will get a record deal from a huge record label. What makes this more emotional is that Violet has to sign her own contract to the label meaning she has to leave behind her guardian Vlad and form her own band.
Does that mean she is not experienced in the music business as well? Maybe.
“Teen Spirit” has got to be the most refreshing and well-told story about a developing pop-star ever since The Lonely Island’s “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping”.
The huge highlight of this film is without question the audacious cinematography of the film by Autumn Durald. The neon color pan alone in the musical sequences during songs like the cover of Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own” make this a great experience at the movies. Also, it also is prominent during the scenes at “Teen Spirit” including in the third act where one particular scene is done in one take.
Elle Fanning gives out such an outstanding and honest performance as the inspired teenager Violet. His chemistry with Vlad (whom Buric gives such a friendly, down-to-earth performance) has a lot of surprising emotional weight to the overall story as well. When singing to Marius de Vries’ energetic song arrangements throughout the film, her voice sounds as breathtaking as the judges say.
An actor I did not expect at all to be in the film is Rebecca Hall (Transcendence, Joel Edgerton’s The Gift), who plays the woman that cares about Violet’s developing future in the music industry. She is also really great too and has a little bit of screen time allotted.
This film has probably one of the strongest and memorable messages about the music industry in a movie I have heard in such a very long time. Max Minghella (son of the late director Anthony Minghella) showcases that it can sometimes be hard to blend into a singing competition as an inexperienced singer. Violet feels like she is bringing herself down, but she can still get back up and improve on her singing problems.
The main and only problem I can say about this film is it’s of course predictable. It is again a one-and-done story that has been done countless of times, but at the same time, I feel refreshed and sympathized with the story Max Minghella is trying to illustrate in this scenario.
“Teen Spirit” is probably one of the recent best examples on how to do a pop-star movie right in the best directions possible. It is once again depressing this film does not have it’s true audience as well as a lack of receipts at the box office. Many people are saying that Elle Fanning in recent memory is a horrible actor lately (Don’t worry. I heard that “The Neon Demon” is appalling). There is proof like this film that she can still truly act her butt off.
Grade: 8.5/10
