Teen Spirit

Teen Spirit

Starring Elle Fanning, Zlatko Buric, Rebecca Hall, Agnieszka Grochowska

Directed by Max Minghella

I can appreciate when someone decides to step out of their typical wheelhouse and do something totally different and unexpected, and that's what happened to Max Minghella.  Max is an actor best known for his roles in films like "Art School Confidential" and "The Darkest Hour," and chose to move behind the camera to direct his first feature film - as well as write it.  The result is "Teen Spirit," a film that shows Minghella's promise, but basically turns into something that people have always wanted to know - what happens behind-the-scenes in an "American Idol"-like show?  Actually, no one's really asked that, and the film itself suffers from a lackluster story and basically serves as a means of selling records, much like those singing reality shows it copies.

The film follows young wallflower Violet Valenski (Elle Fanning), a seventeen-year-old who hates her job, her school, and bascially her life: until she sings, which is her true passion.  Yet even then, no one really hears her sing, as she only plays at a local dive bar with a handful of patrons, most of which don't even listen to her, except for one old, overweight, disheveled man named Vlad (Zlatko Buric).  Violet is creeped out by the old man, but when she auditions for London's singing competition Teen Spirit, she turns to him to act as her uncle so her mother won't know she's auditioning.  She finds out that Vlad used to be an acclaimed opera singer, and serves as her manager through the show's early stages.  As she continues to advance, she faces the pitfalls of immediate fame and how it can warp the young, innocent mind of a small-town girl who's immediately thrust into the limelight.

Basically, "Teen Spirit" is every singing reality show you can think of, and those who are fans of "American Idol" or "The Voice" will probably enjoy this film enough, but for those who can only remember a handful of "American Idol" winners (and remember absolutely none of "The Voice" winners, since none of them have even achieved mediocre success), you'll find yourself waning in your ability to want to pay attention to what's happening due to the very scant overview of Violet's life - and even less details about her competitors - to want to care.  All we really get to know about Violet is that she's shy, she hates her job, and she wants to sing.  That's it, that's all, and there's nothing more added to her story except the typical music-world cliches that hit her full force - the wealthy record managers who want to sign her and ditch her old buddy Vlad, the wild parties with alcohol and cute boys, and the threat of becoming a diva even before she possibly wins the competition.

Elle Fanning is a beauty, and she is the lone shining light in this film (almost literally, as the film is almost entirely dark, even the performances on stage, which is odd for a film that wants to emulate singing competitions that are filled with lights).  She sings her own songs, and while she gives it her all, if she was a nobody who auditioned for "American Idol" in its heyday, Simon Cowell would laugh her off the stage.  Yet in a film like this, it's enough to advance Violet all the way to the finals, thus completing her Cinderella meteoric rise to superstardom - again, if we cared.

I hate to continually beat the drum of a humdrum script, but that's what the film really offers - nothing more than one music video after the next, with some forced dialogue and stereotypical events thrown in-between.  No real depth to Violet's character, absolutely no news on her competitors (I didn't even know their names, let alone anything else about them), and only Vlad seemed to get any sort of arc for his story, although I couldn't help but think if Vlad was an attractive younger man then he'd have no pitfalls in being Violet's manager, but since he looked like a guy who would take children in his van, is seen as a villain in some peoples' eyes, and even Violet's at the beginning. Yet not even his backstory or continual fatherly advice could make us interested in Violet's progression, since we pretty much already know the outcome already.

Trudging along like waning seasons of reality singing shows, "Teen Spirit" doesn't offer anything unique or exciting, and in the end will be as memorable as any winner of "The Voice" or any winner after Carrie Underwood on "American Idol."

The Score: D+