“I wanna live forever, I wanna learn how to fly” – “remember” this? The remake of the classic 1980s film Fame follows the trials and tribulations of a new influx of students at the NYC High School of Performing Arts, and promises to deliver a slick, remixed adaptation of the original – but sadly disappoints.
The gritty script devised by Christopher Gore for the original – gaining him an Oscar nomination – is all but gone; all that remains is the shell of a once gutsy plot. The temporal action of the original is mirrored in the 2009 remake, opening with the tough audition stage, and then taking us from freshman year through to graduation. Beyond this, however, Fame offers little in the way of true substance and only delivers the main-stream reality-tv drivel that ‘the suits’ know sells.
Fans of the 80’s version will remember watching the angst-ridden years of growing up within the high-pressure confines of a performing arts school. The film tackled serious issues head-on; among them illiteracy, homophobia, interracial romance, a domineering stage mother, drugs, abortion and suicide. These issues are more than relevant now – yet the remake glosses over the importance of a powerful script and lacks any sense of change or progress as the characters advance through the school.
The little-known actors in the leading student roles portray characters that are vacuous and not particularly talented. Rather than inspiring a new generation of audiences with ambition to succeed at their chosen art form – sweating blood and tears to get to the top purely for the satisfaction of knowing that their hard work is paying off and they will be able to support themselves doing what they love – the students whinge and warble their way through a film that misses the mark.
Kherington Payne, the dance student, is the greatest talent here, contributing the best performances to the film. It’s a shame however that the dance sequences don’t embrace ballet and traditional theatrical styles. Instead a raunchy style (albeit a cleaned-up version) we have grown used to in music videos is quite literally thrust upon us.
Newcomer Naturi Naughton is also a talent to watch out for – her hands glide effortlessly over the keys of a piano when she is under the guise of a classical pianist. Then, give her a microphone and she belts out the songs with the best of them. Despite this, the performance still feels a bit too Disney – a bit too clean, polished and “American Idol”.
With not a legwarmer in sight and the language and content carefully monitored, the end product feels soulless. The new-fangled Fame will appeal to uninformed pre-teens who dream of going to a performing arts school, after having grown up on a habitual diet of reality television talent shows. Anyone who remembers the original Fame or has a passion for performance and an understanding of the devotion and hard work that goes into the performing arts is likely to be disappointed. Another “High School Musical” we did not need – but it would appear that that’s what we have got.
No related posts.