Teen Spirit
Max Minghella’s “Teen Spirit” is pretty moody for a musical drama. This isn’t necessarily an entertaining romp of a movie to watch, although it can be, and that of that is because Violet, played by Elle Fanning, seems pretty moody for much of the time we see her. A Polish girl living on an island in England with her mother, she goes to school, goes to work, and spends time with her horse. One thing that does get her energized, however, is music, and “Teen Spirit” is about her auditioning for an “American Idol”-like competition.
Elle Fanning is wonderful as Violet, and Violet is a character we immediately empathize with and support. There’s a scene early on where she is singing in a bar, and she goes to leave. At first, she is stopped by an older man who compliments her singing, and offers her a ride home. She feels uncomfortable, and turns him down; she’s just going to go to the bus. She goes to the bus stop, but there are four guys coming her way. It’s dark, there’s no one aware, and she’s on even more guard with them. She goes back to the old man, who ends up driving her home. He is Vlad (Zlatko Buric), and is a former opera singer. They form a bit of a connection after that, and, when Violet has to have a guardian for one phase of the audition process, she turns to him, and he becomes her trainer and manager, as well. The deeper she goes, though, that connection gets more beneficial, but its future is more tenuous.
This isn’t a May-September love story, and I really like that about it. There’s nothing insidious about Vlad’s motivations other than to help nurture a budding talent, and nothing more is read into it by Violet. It’s just a sweet bond that the actors make feel real as Violet finds her way on to that final stage, and Minghella tells a nice little story of being yourself, and finding your talent, with a terrific soundtrack accompanying it. (I was especially taken by Fanning’s performances, but it’s interesting that this is the second movie I’ve heard “I’m Just a Girl” in the past month, and I kind of feel like it worked better here than it did in “Captain Marvel.”) There are times when the film feels a bit flat and perfunctory, but when Fanning and Buric are together, and when Fanning is performing, “Teen Spirit” comes to life.
