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| Scene from High Fidelity |
Welcome to Alternative to What: a weekly column that tries to find a great alternative to driving to the multiplexes. Based on releases of that week, the selections will either be thematically related or feature recurring cast and crew. The goal is to help you better understand the diversity of cinema and hopefully find you some favorites while saving a few bucks. At worse, this column will save you money. Expect each installment to come out on Fridays, unless specified.
THIS WEEK:
High Fidelity (2000)
- Alternative To -
Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)
If you're not wanting to see any superhero or talking food this weekend, then you're likely hedging your bets that Florence Foster Jenkins is actually a good movie. Well, it doesn't sound like it would be if one were to go off of plot. It's based around an opera singer who sells out Carnegie Hall despite being a pretty bad singer. If it wasn't for the acclaim that was Meryl Streep's charisma, then maybe the film would stand more of an uphill battle. But what theme could possibly come from such a specific topic? I am deciding to dedicate this week's Alternative to What to the director Stephen Frears' relationship to music. Whereas his latest tackles music head on, High Fidelity features him talking about music and how it impacts us emotionally.
Despite a slow decline in the years to follow, the choice to cast John Cusack was itself ingenious. He was a former teen heartthrob in the 80's with a series of iconic movie roles as the cool outsider. In High Fidelity, it almost feels like his persona fully realized as he plays a bitter record shop owner whose love life is a mess and his only way to process anything is to categorize it by a list. He can tell you anything about any song or band. He's that informed. However, he cannot tell you why he's doomed to end up alone, listening to his friends bicker about customers.
The film itself may be somewhat of a throwback film in that it tackles a lot of nostalgic topics. Bruce Springsteen pops up for an inspired cameo. Jack Black discusses movies and bands with a passionate fervor. Even if there's live performances and excellent use of music commentary throughout the film, it's all an outsider's look into the culture of performing. It's about how the songs make the average viewer feel. Thankfully, Cusack has a wry sense of humor that makes his wisdom all the more effective. Frears direction helps to add a pop art aesthetic to it all that only makes the conclusion all the more satisfying.
While one would seem intimidated by its subject, one doesn't actually have to be a fan of the music to like the film. At most, the references would enhance the overall experience. Still, Cusack's outsider nature already makes the viewer misunderstanding him a key component to how his life works. By the time that the film becomes a loitering sense of gags that feature customers complaining and the owners loathing over word choice. It's a film more about the emotions than the references, and it creates a sense of nostalgia that's only met by Grosse Pointe Blank as an example of an actor doing what he does best. By the end, we've laughed and cried, and we understand ourselves better through one of the more creative romantic comedies of the decade.
The truth is that you cannot go too wrong with Frears as a director. He is often a lively and exciting name - most recently earning Oscar acclaim for Philomena. While it doesn't seem likely that Florence Foster Jenkins will be a runaway success, it will at least return him to the field of music, where he is allowed to be passionate and better understand personal drives. Even if the films are ostensibly different, they almost work as companion pieces to how we perceive music as both a motivator and a career. It may not be a flawless comparison, but Frears clearly loves music and it would seem doubtful that this is his last turn to the toe tapping style of film making.
Despite a slow decline in the years to follow, the choice to cast John Cusack was itself ingenious. He was a former teen heartthrob in the 80's with a series of iconic movie roles as the cool outsider. In High Fidelity, it almost feels like his persona fully realized as he plays a bitter record shop owner whose love life is a mess and his only way to process anything is to categorize it by a list. He can tell you anything about any song or band. He's that informed. However, he cannot tell you why he's doomed to end up alone, listening to his friends bicker about customers.
The film itself may be somewhat of a throwback film in that it tackles a lot of nostalgic topics. Bruce Springsteen pops up for an inspired cameo. Jack Black discusses movies and bands with a passionate fervor. Even if there's live performances and excellent use of music commentary throughout the film, it's all an outsider's look into the culture of performing. It's about how the songs make the average viewer feel. Thankfully, Cusack has a wry sense of humor that makes his wisdom all the more effective. Frears direction helps to add a pop art aesthetic to it all that only makes the conclusion all the more satisfying.
While one would seem intimidated by its subject, one doesn't actually have to be a fan of the music to like the film. At most, the references would enhance the overall experience. Still, Cusack's outsider nature already makes the viewer misunderstanding him a key component to how his life works. By the time that the film becomes a loitering sense of gags that feature customers complaining and the owners loathing over word choice. It's a film more about the emotions than the references, and it creates a sense of nostalgia that's only met by Grosse Pointe Blank as an example of an actor doing what he does best. By the end, we've laughed and cried, and we understand ourselves better through one of the more creative romantic comedies of the decade.
The truth is that you cannot go too wrong with Frears as a director. He is often a lively and exciting name - most recently earning Oscar acclaim for Philomena. While it doesn't seem likely that Florence Foster Jenkins will be a runaway success, it will at least return him to the field of music, where he is allowed to be passionate and better understand personal drives. Even if the films are ostensibly different, they almost work as companion pieces to how we perceive music as both a motivator and a career. It may not be a flawless comparison, but Frears clearly loves music and it would seem doubtful that this is his last turn to the toe tapping style of film making.
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