We knew Elle Fanning could act, but can she sing? She excels at both and despite the predictable story line, her performance overcomes the shortcoming leading to a sensational climax.
This is Writer/Director Max Minghella’s first feature as director who has directed music videos and that pays off in this film. (He’s also an actor having been in numerous episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale and son of the late Oscar Winning director Anthony Minghella.) The music in this film is pure pop with some recognizable songs to go along with original music that Fanning delivers herself. You’ll be surprised. We were. She worked with a vocal coach for 4 months.
Fanning underplays her role so that you really don’t know from one moment to the next if she’s going to implode or get the courage to keep going to try to win the trendy TV Teen Spirit competition. Even her posture changes. She exhibits the range of emotions so perfectly and Director Minghella gets every nuance shooting her tight. Her closeups reveal the emotional swings as she goes through repeated auditions showing her teen angst, guilt, envy, lack of self confidence, and her growing confidence, especially when she takes the stage and goes into the zone, losing herself in her songs.
They’re pretty good with lyrics that portray what she’s going through. Fanning sings covers of Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own” in the beginning to Annie Lennox’s “Little Bird,” Ellie Goulding’s “Lights,” to Tegan and Sara’s “I Was a Fool,” and Sigrid’s “Don’t Kill My Vibe.” She basically sings her story along with songs on the soundtrack by other pop artists hand-picked by the film’s Executive Music Producer/composer, Marius De Vries. (La La Land, The Lego Movie 2).
We first see Fanning as Violet singing softly and performing awkwardly in a local bar. She’s still in high school on the Isle of Wight and seems very vulnerable and defensive. She’s working as a server at a snooker (billiards) bar to make money for her mother. But her passion is to be a pop star always attached to her iPod listening and dreaming. Minghella follows her journey as she tries to stay under the radar, at least from her Mom, to enter the televised Teen Spirit singing competition to follow that dream and make money.
Violet goes through the ups and downs of trying out for the high profile talent show, but has to think fast on her feet to get an adult to accompany her so she can compete. Enter Vlad played by Zlatko Buric who underplays but is so effective in creating depth for his role and bringing it out of young actress Fanning, who just turned 21.
He plays the hulking, drunken mess of a once-famous Central European opera star who ended up on the Isle of Wright. He hears Violet sing in the dingy open-mike bar and sees potential. He could be a dirty old man the way he studies Violet singing, until she slowly allows herself to get to know him. Her mother is more than wary and they’re both so vulnerable. He finally, but tentatively, wins them over becoming her mentor and manager to help her navigate the steps toward becoming a real performer. His advice? Sing from the heart.
Vlad is really the heart of this film. Buric makes him intensely human. Minghella purposely shoots him from a low point of view which makes him loom even larger. And his halting speech with an accent belies his intelligence, experience and show business savvy. He knows the game. Vlad tries to help Violet face the challenges and stay away from the dangers he knows only too well. He has his own demons and losses.
Although you know Violet will have her hits and misses competing, you want to see how far she can get. Minghella makes her relationships very realistic with Vlad, her mother and even record label executive, Jules (Rebecca Hall) who makes an enticing offer. We saw enough working around new young talent and concerts in broadcasting.
Violet’s friendship with her band members is good. They seem to really care about her. But with all the attention from new fans and from the heartthrob winner of last year’s competition Keyan, (Ruairie O’Connor), it goes to her head. He gets her in a heap load of trouble. You know she’s got to go off the rails, which she does at the most crucial time. So does Vlad. But you’re so invested in these vulnerable characters by this point, you’ll want to see how it plays out.
Each time Violet performs, Minghella adds backstage, background sounds like the pounding of a heart, maybe Violet’s, which get more pronounced as she gets nearer the stage. They get more tense as he shoots tight on her face as she walks that long hallway to the stage for her last big do or die moment. Fanning blows it out of the water. She proves she has the pop chops and Minghella proves he has what it takes to give this film more than just a pat ending. And the payoff is worth it.
LD Entertainment and Bleecker Street 92 minutes PG-13
