Stories thrive on obstacles. Without them, our tales would simply be boring. It’s why we love the three-act structure. It’s why we love Spartan races and Tough Mudders: We literally create obstacles when we don’t have any.
It’s interesting, then, that Teen Spirit, a story with the potential for tension and conflict, has absolutely none.
From Teen Spirit’s Facebook page.
The film is like a peanut butter sandwich you might eat before one of those aforementioned obstacles races: it’s fun, sugary, predictable, and doesn’t fill you up but somehow energizes you anyway.
Teen Spirit is the neon pink tinted directorial debut of Max Minghella who also wrote the script. Minghella is perhaps best known as Nick on The Handmaid’s Tale, a story which has an enormous amount of tension, conflict, and drama baked in. Perhaps, he like, the rest of us, needed something light after our adventures in Gilead. I don’t blame him. Elle Fanning stars as Violet Valenski, a shy teenager who escapes her real world by diving into her iPod and singing at a local bar. Teen Spirit does not refer to the 90’s deodorant nor a hit Nirvana song, but rather to a teen music competition that Violet enters.
It would be easy to call Teen Spirit a Cinderella story, but, for the Cinderella story to actually work, the odds have to at some point be against Cinderella. At no point in this hazy tale does it seem like our heroine will fail. Teen Spirit travels like a fun plane ride without turbulence headed to a predictable destination and everyone is riding in first class.
Instead of tension, we’re given a delightful cinematography and editing highlight reel, something a DP or an editing guru might upload to get a gig. In particular, a surprise, long, single take shot provided a quick moment to breathe amongst the dreamy, hazy montages punctuated by energetic, pulsating, pop music.
The good news is that for movie about pop music, this soundtrack truly delivers. From Grimes’ “Genesis” reverberating out of the theater speakers to a cover of Annie Lennox’s catchy “Little Bird” to a surprise cover of a Tegan and Sara song to my favorite, a unique mix of the backing track to Katy Perry’s “E.T.,” the soundtrack serves as an invitation to pop in your AirPods and be whisked away with a single pink neon light to guide you. While not featured on the official album, savvy listeners will catch the opening notes to Irene Cara’s hit “Flashdance…What A Feeling” from, of course, the movie Flashdance, as if to remind you that this isn’t the first attempt at a Cinderella story nor will it be the last.
The soundtrack’s one minor misstep is not its own fault: “Just A Girl” was unfortunately also used in the blockbuster playing in the theater next door. Though for what it’s worth, Elle Fanning was born in 1998, so she likely missed listening to No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom on a CD (…that stands for compact disc).
Speaking of CDs, one could be forgiven if they walked away unclear of when this film is set. Violet’s iPod has a click wheel, centering us in the 2000s, but selfies and modern phones with large screens are featured too. But really, what does it matter when it was set? This film is an escape from reality, not a reflection of it.
Teen Spirit enters a crowded field of female musician movies, including Vox Lux and Her Smell, which both deliver something unique and different. Here, the surprise is not in the story, but in Fanning’s apparent skills as a singer and a multi-linguist: The character, Violet, also speaks Polish.
In Teen Spirit, Violet “dances on her own” in a dream world; hazily moving to pop songs and allowing her favorite music to guide her. As I walked out of the theater, I, too, wanted to live in those dreamy musical montages.
And I also wanted a peanut butter sandwich.
Teen Spirit opens in select theaters tomorrow, Friday, April 12, 2019.
