Following his father’s footsteps into directing, actor Max Minghella’s debut behind the camera is a bright and engaging foray music competition film sub-genre, but with enough originality in this well trodden class, Teen Spirit elevates itself thanks to a magnificent central performance from Elle Fanning.
Set in a small town on the Isle of Whyte where Violet and mother are outcasts having immigrated from Poland, she dreams of escape and pursues her dream to sing by entering a local competition, practicing at an open mic night at a seedy working men’s club on the edge of town. Of course her mother doesn’t know any of this, instead thinking Violet is pulling double shifts at her part-time job, things take an even stranger turn when an unlikely mentor steps forward to guide Violet through the latter stages of the competition, though as the strain all starts to become a bit too much, the real challenge is if Violet can hold it all together when the goal is just a hair’s breadth away.
Driven by a pop-fuelled soundtrack, Teen Spirit does its utmost to avert the cliches of the genre and is a hugely accomplished, visceral and stylish debut from Max Minghella. Really though this is Elle Fanning’s film. Recording every magnificent song and on-stage performance herself, you wouldn’t be the slightest bit surprised to be told she was a professional musician. This is an electrifying yet nuanced performance, spending just as much time away from the stage, interacting with her overbearing mother or ex-opera singer mentor.
The music montages are always integral to the success of this sort of film, and Minghella handles them with panache and originality. One shot of Violet performing typifies on stage why she should be excited about this charismatic actor’s move behind the camera; a close-up, framing Fanning with big lights at either side of face, when the song ends, the lights die down and the camera pulls back. We’re in a dinghy club, with barely 5 people in the audience, and only one set of hands clapping somewhere close to the back. But we know in her world this is how she sees it, that it means so much, and it’s an exciting journey we’re about to embark on.
This is a film perfect for SXSW, but it’s certainly deserving of life away from the festival circuit too. While the final final scene is a little on the nose, in general Teen Spirit handles the completion sequences really well . This is a feel-good film that goes full throttle, the soundtrack drives it along really wells and despite being a story we know really well, Teen Spirit still feels fresh.