Fame (1980)

"Fame", the original quintessential school of performing arts movie, which originated thousands of imitators, a most famous TV series (from 1982 to 1987) and, most recently, a remake. First of all, this is an Alan Parker film, and, as such, it is a down-to-earth social study. But, even so, its target audience is young, so it does not have the emotional depth of the Parker films. Furthermore, it condenses 4 years of school in little over two hours, and has many characters, so it is quite difficult handling it all and still be profound. The movie ends up being a general overview, which the subsequent TV series explored beautifully in more close-up. Basically, the movie follows one class of students of New York's school of performing arts, from the auditions, to each year, to finally their first integration in the professional world. We get to know them, their teachers, their relations, their passions and their problems in a series of disconnected scenes that shows us that time is passing and that they are evolving. It is a particular fine editing job which enables us to pass from year to year, to character to character, and give a coherent link between everything, from drama class, to ballet dancers, to singers, etc. Almost everything is condensed here, young pregnancy, parent trouble, drug problems, fear of acceptance, rebellion (oh Leroy, Leroy), social clash, etc, etc, the makings of every TV show for youth, which off course the subsequent series explored. If you remember the series you will see that every storyline this movie follows had an episode, or a set of episodes, dedicated to it. So, in the end, seeing "Fame" by itself results in somewhat a small disappointment,because much is said in little time, and although being captivating and endearing, you get a feeling that something is missing. So, the TV series is the perfect complement to this movie. A few years before MTV appeared, Parker created two or three scenes that are perfect videoclips (to the sound of "Fame" or "Hot Lunch Jam"), which give the movie a lot of rhythm. We know the characters and we love them, they are captivating... but unfortunately probably it is so because I know the series from my youth. The ending is also too abrupt, it ends with the school's graduation performance, and leaves no inkling as to the future of the graduates... In the end, "Fame" ends up being one of the ultimate youngsters-want-to-make-it-in-show-biz movies. In 2 hours you get the whole low down on everything there is to know about that, with a perfect equilibrium between cinematic quality and youth appeal, but with the setback of having too much material and being unable to get deep enough with each character. Complement the movie with the series and then you really get something special.