Teen Spirit (2018)

Directed by: Max Minghella | 93 minutes | drama, music | Actors: Elle Fanning, Agnieszka Grochowska, Archie Madekwe, Zlatko Buric, Millie Brady, Vivian Oparah, Ria Zmitrowicz, Olive Gray, Andrew Ellis, Marius De Vries, Elizabeth Berrington, John Locke

Seventeen-year-old Violet (Elle Fanning) dreams of a life as a pop star. It is the way for her to escape her boring and not easy life. Her mother struggles to keep her head above water financially, which means that Violet regularly has to help out financially. When the Teen Spirit singing competition comes along one day, Violet’s dream of becoming a music star seems to be within reach. As an added bonus, she is assisted by her mentor Vlad, a former opera singer who has given in to the temptations of the bottle. But along the way in her quest for eternal fame, Violet discovers that the road to success is not without pitfalls. To really become a star, the singer will have to overcome her own insecurities.

‘Teen Spirit’ is a film that fits perfectly in the age of talent shows. The film is full of video clip-like montages bathed in the kitschy neon light. In addition, the film is larded with a cartload of friendly pop songs. The songs are written by well-known pop icons such as Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, Robyn, Tegan & Sara and Ellie Goulding. Remarkably, they are all sung by lead actress Elle Fanning. This certainly gives the film a bit more weight and extra credibility, although Fanning – unlike Lady Gaga in ‘A Star Is Born’ for example – is not always convincing on a vocal level.

The story that comes along in ‘Teen Spirit’ is a straightforward case and does not save on clichés. The underdog growing up in rather pitiful circumstances, her struggles on her way to the top and the big climax; we’ve all seen it before in music and sports films of various signatures. As a result, ‘Teen Spirit’ clearly lacks a face of its own and the film sometimes comes across as soulless. Does that make ‘Teen Spirit’ a bad picture? Not that either. For fans of the genre there is plenty to enjoy, while the soundtrack is catchy enough to settle in your brain for a longer period of time.