Over the past four years or so, musical-movies have dominated the silver screen. Oscar-winning films such as “La La Land” and “A Star Is Born” have won the hearts of critics, and the “Pitch Perfect” franchise received rave reviews from a wide range of audiences. As a fan of both musicals and movies, I’m on board with combining the two forms of entertainment… if done correctly. Although it has its positive elements, Max Minghella’s “Teen Spirit” is unoriginal and, at parts, poorly acted. A few pro-tips to the director himself: One, unless you have another “Mamma Mia!” on your hands, the songs in a movie-musical should really be original. Two, make sure your actors know where the film takes place – Violet (Elle Fanning) switched between American and English accents so often that I became jetlagged.
Regardless of her inconsistent dialect, Fanning has a spectacular singing voice, and Minghella showcases her talents very well. To give you a sentence-long plot summary, Violet is an ambitious farm girl who comes from a struggling Polish family, and enters a singing competition to lessen her family’s financial troubles. As you can probably tell, we’ve seen this storyline plenty of times before – it’s like an angsty, anti-Disney “High School Musical,” as Violet clearly has pent-up rage against her parents, though we’re spared any details. While the film’s plot is, as I said before, weak and unoriginal, the scenes where Violet actually sings are beautifully shot – the flickering lights from on-stage performances, and musical sequences from the English countryside are very aesthetically pleasing.
The visuals are so powerful, in fact, that several scenes felt like a paint rave, where neon lights flicker constantly, fluorescent paint is splattered about and loud, bass-heavy music blares through the speakers. Now that I think about it, Violet’s performing sequences are identical to a rave (minus the paint), as she sings well-known mainstream songs and is always placed against a flashy, brightly colored background. This brings me back to Minghella’s choice in music – he would’ve had a huge hit on his hands if Violet sang original songs. Although I knew each song that played throughout the film and couldn’t help but hum along to it, a brand new, original album would’ve done wonders for the movie as a whole. Perhaps my favorite aspect of “A Star Is Born” is the soundtrack, as each song is masterfully written and undeniably beautiful. Now, I’m not saying that Elle Fanning is on Lady Gaga’s level (as of yet), but if she co-wrote a song or two, “Teen Spirit” would’ve received more publicity and higher ratings from audiences.
Compared to its Oscar-Winning counterparts, “Teen Spirit” falls short of modern movie-musical expectations. While his use of cinematography is excellent, Minghella should’ve written (or co-written) an original soundtrack for the film, and spent more time developing Elle Fanning’s English accent. Put frankly, there’s only so much that flashing lights, aesthetic landscapes and a decent singing voice can do to distract audiences from poor acting and an unoriginal storyline.