‘Teen Spirit’ Smells Like Missed Opportunity (FILM REVIEW)

[rating=6.00]

There’s a lot to appreciate about Teen Spirit, actor Max Minghella’s first directorial effort, which is what makes the film so frustrating to watch. Every piece of the cinematic puzzle that makes up this exploration of dreams and pop stardom, taken in a vacuum, is at least good if not great.

For a first time director, Minghella displays a remarkable vision, elevating a familiar story to something that feels grand and spectacular. There are scenes in the film that are undeniably brilliant in every respect, and as a writer Minghella knows how to craft compelling dialogue and intriguing characters.

This becomes increasingly difficult the longer the film goes on because no single piece of filmmaking exists in a vacuum. All parts work towards a collective whole and the more we see of Teen Spirit the more we notice how little is actually holding all these pieces together. For a story exploring the emotional highs and lows of the rise to superstardom, there’s a definite lack of punch and agency to the story that makes it more and more difficult to care about characters that we so desperately want to care for.

Following a familiar A Star is Born formula, Teen Spirit introduces us to Violet (Elle Fanning), a Polish teen living on a farm on the Isle of Wight. Dreaming of a chance to break free of her life, she signs up to be a contestant on an American Idol-style series, Teen Spirit. Under the tutelage of a formerly great opera singer turned town drunk, Vlad (Zlatko Buric), Violet is shocked at her continued ascension through the competition, bringing her ever closer to her dreams.

Minghella’s arthouse sensibilities are more than admirable, and there’s no denying the intense, cinematic beauty of much of his film. The vibrance of his scenes often leaps off of the screen and takes you inside the pop fueled madness of Teen Spirit. As a director, Minghella is already proving his visionary bonafides, suggesting a rich lexiconic depth that will be fascinating to watch unfurl with future films.

Even the performances he captures are great. Fanning has always been an actress with incredible talent and range, and as Violet she pushes herself as far as she ever has. Buric, too, is fascinating to watch as Vlad, whose relationship with Violet has the potential for a larger exploration about music and its importance across genres.

Despite this, there’s a severe lack of meat to the story that hinders it from becoming the great movie it almost is. We see too little of Violet’s ascent through the ranks of the competition for it to truly mean anything. Minghella seems to be more focused on the emotional toll the rise to stardom implies, but event that’s lessened by the fact that so much of what we’re supposed to be emotional about is neglected. Things happen to Violet, but the weight of what’s happening is never expounded upon in any meaningful way.

All of this adds up to a wildly uneven, frustrating experience. Teen Spirit is too lacking in too many areas for it to make the kind of mark it seeks to make; given how great so much of the film is, it makes the failure all the more difficult. We can only hope that Minghella continues to push his vision in future films. We’ll be more than lucky if and when he succeeds.

Teen Spirit is now playing in theaters everywhere.

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