Teen Spirit (2018)
Before you rush towards Teen Spirit, know it has nothing to do with Kurt Cobain or Nirvana. Actually, it’s the familiar story of an aspiring singer who competes in an “American Idol”-like competition called “Teen Spirit” and features some surprisingly good musical performances by Elle Fanning. At the end of the day, however, you’ve seen everything this picture has to offer before.
Violet (Fanning) lives in a small European town on the Isle of Wight - so in the middle of nowhere -, works at a job she hates and her shyness has earned her few friends. When she is told she needs a guardian’s approval to enter the Teen Spirit singing competition, she asks Vlad (Zlatko Buric), a patron at the bar where she performs, to pretend to be her uncle.
It’s been seven months since 2018's A Star is Born but we still have Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s performances playing in our heads. By contrast, Teen Spirit is mundane. Even without the comparison, there’s nothing you haven’t seen here before. Every opportunity to diverge from the well-traveled path is ignored. As soon as Violet tells her mom (Agnieszka Grochowska) about Teen Spirit, you know what she’s going to say. The one surprise comes when you think maybe the film will explore what happens when you try your hardest and still don’t manage to succeed… but it doesn’t. From there, tension builds as Violet is tempted to deviate from her dream, there’s conflict between her and Vlad over who knows what's better for Violet's career, and so on. It’s never bad, you just wait for some standout aspect to validate why this story is being told again.
While her character is fairly bland - she lacks the charisma a pop star needs to become a lasting sensation - Elle Fanning is great. She comes alive when she’s singing and the musical numbers show off her set of pipes well. The picture’s last number, in particular, is the kind that’ll have you tapping your feet and cheering. You wish Teen Spirit was more ambitious but you have to give it credit: what it is doing it's doing well. The music video-like sequences where we see Violet slowly but steadily advance through the competition all look great. I even liked Zlatko Buric, who initially seems like a weirdo creep but later on comes off as nice and warm, if a bit underdeveloped (we never get to find out what his story is).
For teens or those who have an affinity for this type of Cinderella story, I do recommend Teen Spirit. I don’t know if you’ll remember it a month down the line but nothing about it is bad. As a rental, I think you'll be fine with it being nothing more than what it is. (Theatrical version on the big screen, April 17, 2019)