Teen Spirit (2018)

I decided to do something a little different for today so unfortunately for those of you out there that enjoy it, there will be no Sunday At The Classics this week. Every where you look on Television, there is a singing reality show on almost all the channels from The Voice to American Idol to even niche competitions from Country to rock and rap opes too over the years. The film I chose for today kind of explores this subject matter in 2018's Teen Spirit which was written and directed by Max Minghella (The Social Network). The film stars Elle Fanning (The Neon Demon) as Violet, a shy girl from a small town who dreams of escaping the town by becoming a singer. With the help of an unorthodox mentor (Zlatko Buric) she will enter a singing competition that tests all of your skills as a performer in this new age spin on the old Cinderella story. The film also stars Agnieszka Grochowska (Child 44) as Marla, Archie Madekwe (Midsommar) as Luke, Millie Brady (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) as Anastasia, Vivian Oparah (I May Destroy You) as Kelli, Ria Zmitrowicz (On The Edge) as Hayley, Olive Gray (Home From Home) as Lisa, Rebecca Hall (Professor Marston & The Wonder Women) as Jules, and Daisy Lowe (Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie) as Teen Spirit Host.

I thought the film had a lot of potential to take the story in so many places, but you have to give Max Minghella a lot of credit for at least trying because he was a true auteur where he wrote and directed the film. That means if anything goes wrong with the film then you are full on the person to blame for all of the films failures. There were a lot of subplots in this film that were thrown in and some were just never full explored which was a shame because it would have made the film a little bit better. I definitely thought the film was very well shot and I loved the overall glossy look of it, but going into this I thought it was going to be a different film. I definitely wanted to see more of a grittier or maybe grimier side of the entertainment business and I thought they could have explored more of that angle then just a straight on singing competition combined with teenage stupidity and teen angst. I think that would have taken the film over the top, but maybe next time. I liked the combo of Fanning and Buric because it sort of made them the odd couple where you have this guy who was a famous composer in his time coaching a girl to be a pop singer. That scenario definitely made the film a little bit interesting and I say these things, but I want you to know that I did enjoy it. Would I watch the film again? To be perfectly honest, I probably would not venture into this again because it's a one and done in my opinion. That is why I am going to give the film an B- for a final grade.