Musicals are something most people tend to have pretty strong opinions about either leading one way or the other. There are those people who adore musicals and others who despise them. I place myself somewhere in the middle of these two ends of the spectrum. I don't hate musicals by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm not particularly fond of them. I don't particularly enjoy the whole idea of characters randomly breaking into song for no reason, especially when it doesn't further the plot whatsoever. My suspension of disbelief is shattered when the characters begin singing away their issues with no clear motivation as to why. On stage there is a lot of greatness that can be done with musicals, but on film I try to steer clear of them. However, if I had to recommend one musical, Fame would definitely be up on the list. It is a musical that places its musical numbers in appropriate and relevant spots. The film is really a drama before it is a musical. Plus it centers around a group of characters who are the kind of people who would break out into song and dance in real life. Obviously not to the extent that these characters do, but that's because Fame is still a musical.
Fame is about a group of high school students who go to school at a prestigious performing arts school in New York. The film follows a large ensemble of characters from their auditions to get into school all the way to graduation. Obviously it is a very character driven story and, for the most part, each character is very interesting and develops a lot throughout the movie. The characters span all sorts of personalities, backgrounds, and attitudes towards high school. But they all share one thing in common, and that is a love for performing arts. And it is through this that they can all relate. And they do all relate through some method or another. Friendships develop and enemies are made. Each character intertwines with the others, some more than the rest, but it all accumulates into a great character study.
In a film with so many stories going on and intertwining at the same time, a directors juxtaposition skills have to be tight and concise. Alan Parker is a very skilled director, and he shows it in the beginning of the film. The film begins by introducing us to all the characters through their auditions to get into the school. It makes for a great opening to the film. Each character is introduced in some unique fashion and we get a good sense of whose going to be important and what archetypal role each character will likely play. Of course by the end of the opening I started to get the feeling that there were going to be a lot of characters. And there were a bunch. Towards the middle of the film a lot of the smaller roles stopped showing up as much and it was clearly defined which were the central characters of the film. However, towards the end of the film Parker's ability to juxtapose these story lines started to dwindle. There are three main characters that become the central focus of the story and the others sort of fade away. We don't hear from some of the other characters for a long stretch of time until they are brought back up towards the end.
I'm still trying to figure out the ending and whether I liked it or not. It is very abrupt and leaves all the characters stories open ended. Nothing seems to be resolved in the end of the film. One could make the argument that this is a smart element to include in the film as it leaves it all open to interpretation. But I was still taken aback by the abruptness of the ending and its lack of explanation or catharsis. The film does end with an incredible musical number with a very powerful song. I still feel like I would have been happier if a little more work towards the storyline had gone towards the ending.
Fame's greatest quality is its great balance between the fantastic music and its sincere dramatic elements. There is a deep story here that deals with the difficulties of growing up as a teenager and coping with the world around you, especially when you are trying so hard to express a passion for something so close to your heart. I said before that each of these characters comes from very different walks of life and this plays heavily into this storytelling aspect. There are some incredibly gripping monologues delivered brilliantly by the actors. The film is really well written to begin with, and some moments of the film are tear jerkingly gripping. There are some truly powerful moments in Fame, both through dialouge and music.
Fame is good as a drama and a musical. It has lots of great songs that are performed by great actors that have a lot of acting talent as well as musical talent. I was very impressed by how great some of the dancing and singing was in this movie. Fame might have a few too many characters, causing it to get a little lost towards the end of the film. The ending is surprisingly abrupt, but can still be effective depending on how you interpret it. I enjoyed Fame a lot more than I thought I would and I would recommend it to anybody, even those who aren't big fans of musicals.
Fame is about a group of high school students who go to school at a prestigious performing arts school in New York. The film follows a large ensemble of characters from their auditions to get into school all the way to graduation. Obviously it is a very character driven story and, for the most part, each character is very interesting and develops a lot throughout the movie. The characters span all sorts of personalities, backgrounds, and attitudes towards high school. But they all share one thing in common, and that is a love for performing arts. And it is through this that they can all relate. And they do all relate through some method or another. Friendships develop and enemies are made. Each character intertwines with the others, some more than the rest, but it all accumulates into a great character study.
In a film with so many stories going on and intertwining at the same time, a directors juxtaposition skills have to be tight and concise. Alan Parker is a very skilled director, and he shows it in the beginning of the film. The film begins by introducing us to all the characters through their auditions to get into the school. It makes for a great opening to the film. Each character is introduced in some unique fashion and we get a good sense of whose going to be important and what archetypal role each character will likely play. Of course by the end of the opening I started to get the feeling that there were going to be a lot of characters. And there were a bunch. Towards the middle of the film a lot of the smaller roles stopped showing up as much and it was clearly defined which were the central characters of the film. However, towards the end of the film Parker's ability to juxtapose these story lines started to dwindle. There are three main characters that become the central focus of the story and the others sort of fade away. We don't hear from some of the other characters for a long stretch of time until they are brought back up towards the end.
I'm still trying to figure out the ending and whether I liked it or not. It is very abrupt and leaves all the characters stories open ended. Nothing seems to be resolved in the end of the film. One could make the argument that this is a smart element to include in the film as it leaves it all open to interpretation. But I was still taken aback by the abruptness of the ending and its lack of explanation or catharsis. The film does end with an incredible musical number with a very powerful song. I still feel like I would have been happier if a little more work towards the storyline had gone towards the ending.
Fame's greatest quality is its great balance between the fantastic music and its sincere dramatic elements. There is a deep story here that deals with the difficulties of growing up as a teenager and coping with the world around you, especially when you are trying so hard to express a passion for something so close to your heart. I said before that each of these characters comes from very different walks of life and this plays heavily into this storytelling aspect. There are some incredibly gripping monologues delivered brilliantly by the actors. The film is really well written to begin with, and some moments of the film are tear jerkingly gripping. There are some truly powerful moments in Fame, both through dialouge and music.
Fame is good as a drama and a musical. It has lots of great songs that are performed by great actors that have a lot of acting talent as well as musical talent. I was very impressed by how great some of the dancing and singing was in this movie. Fame might have a few too many characters, causing it to get a little lost towards the end of the film. The ending is surprisingly abrupt, but can still be effective depending on how you interpret it. I enjoyed Fame a lot more than I thought I would and I would recommend it to anybody, even those who aren't big fans of musicals.