Teen Spirit

I could go on for days and days and days about how much I love the Fanning sisters. Especially Elle. The Neon Demon may very well be my favorite movie of all time, either that or Mulholland Drive. Neon lights, popular music, and Elle singing is all I needed to convince myself to see this opening night. Max Minghella excels in capturing the performance and musical aspects of the film although the story has been seen and done many times. Still, I found it an enjoyable watch mostly through another typically great leading performance from the lovely Elle. The film is about a Polish teen from around The Isle of Wight, who has aspirations to be a singer. A singing contest named Teen Spirit comes near her vicinity and she enters with the help of a former opera singer named Vlad. After trials, she finally makes it to the later rounds of the TV show and attains fame. However, she runs the risk of letting the fame get to her head and forgetting where she came from and who helped her to get there. Max Minghella of The Handmaid's Tale fame directs and writes his first film, which was quite interesting to me. The pop songs and covers are quite good and catchy. Elle is a powerhouse when she performs. This girl never ceases to amaze me and the fact that she is able to have stage performance here goes to show the talent she possesses. A lot of the film succeeds because of her performance. The musical performances and cinematography surrounding it is alluring as well. The story is the typical rags to riches, teen living the big dream story. While it is an unoriginal and very simple story to tell, the film has enough going for it to keep you interested. I also very much enjoyed seeing Zlatko Buric in this film. Thought he was great in the Pusher series, particularly Pusher III. Teen Spirit won't be a mindblowing experience or the indy darling you are looking for but it is a solid effort and impressive debut from the unlikely Minghella. I'm there when there is anything Elle. Now to check out the film's soundtrack. 7.5/10

20 mins in, I had to recheck the plot on imdb to check again where is this movie going. What was I looking for? Something different maybe, something unexpected. But nope, the plot said it will test her integrity, talent and ambition. So without watching, let me guess, greedy producers who try to get everything from her, try to corrupt her with glitz glamour, some boys trying to seduce her in the midst. Yup there it is. Even the performances and songs become a bore. Elle Fanning was good in some movies, in this one her sour and dour expressions stayed from start to finish. At first in dealing with a single mother, a crumbling house, school, her peers everything is so freaking depressing. Then she gets her dream and still so sad. Then she finish the last song and looked like she just broke her own heart. Pop stardom is not in her spirit, I'm afraid.

The first two thirds of the film put me on life support. There was a glimmer of hope near the end, but then the film was over and I realized we never got anywhere. Not satisfying at all and really a waste of time unless you're just a massive Elle Fanning fan. What makes a good film can be subjective, but a critical concept is that you need proper pacing and contrast between different types of scenes. Nobody wants 60 minutes of the camera pointed at a tree... They tried to put a couple things in, like the scene involving a horse and then some drinking later on, but it was seriously still a bore. I got a few "Smash" (TV series from 2012) flashbacks while watching this but that was probably just my brain trying to stay awake...

Terrible screenplay, bad directing, horrible supporting actors, especially the old guy pretended to be a famous opera singer, and his presence making this hollow movie even more shallow. The storyline is like a animal blazed trail in the wilderness, if you don't pay attention, you don't even know where it is. There's nothing in this movie except some so so songs. Because of the awkward script, Elle Fanning was forced to play a boring and hollow character. There's no way a person like she played could sing from the heart. I rarely found a movie with such huge nothingness to tell. Horse, goat, sunset, stage lights, some young bimbos in high school, plus a loner, an outsider, a poor farm Polish girl on the Isle of nothing. This is one of the most awkward movies in recent years, with nothing to tell, just throw in several teen songs to make up a movie. Jesus....

I was pleasantly surprised that one of my favorite characters Nick, from the Handmaid's Tale, Max Minghella, made his directorial debut, and also wrote (his second writing credit) this film. His directing was excellent, the cinematography on point, and the story was good, but I feel the ending was rushed... I wanted more. Decent time was spent in the beginning building the characters and the story, then near the end the 'conflict' between Violet and Vlad just happened/ended too quickly, and the ending was just too simple and basic, without any more story between Violet and Vlad, and even her mother. Maybe it was editing issues to keep the film at 93 mins, but I would've liked another 15-20 mins added to the ending. The score/soundtrack was excellent, and wow did Elle Fanning show her vocal/stage talent. She played her character really well, maybe a little too bland, but nevertheless, she was convincing in her role. Zlatko Buric also nailed his role, and for that matter, the rest of the cast were great and convincing. I'm not sure why some people are hating on this film, especially coming from a novice director and writer - I think he did great, and the story was entertaining and captivating. Sure the writing could've been tighter, but cut the guy some slack considering I've seen worse writing from seasoned writers. Nevertheless, I recommend this film and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a well deserved 8/10 from me, and hope to see more from Max Minghella. And if anyone is questioning my review as fake, click on my username and you will see my 1000+ ratings and 600+ reviews.