Elle Fanning and Rebecca Hall in Teen Spirit (LD Entertainment/Bleecker Street Media)

Talent, passion, and determination shake up the small worldview of a Polish-English teenage girl in Max Minghella’s Teen Spirit. Set in a timeless European pop culture dimension of its own, it encapsulates Flashdance, the music of pop group S Club 7, Britain’s Got Talent, Top of the Pops, and ’90s techno in a cloudy neon stew. The film deceives the audience at first as an indirect remake of the aforementioned Flashdance with its photography; a striving, young female lead; and even by including Irene Cara’s “Flashdance… What a Feeling” hit on the soundtrack, before it goes on to explore yet another tale of machinations within the music industry.

Violet (a strong and convincing Elle Fanning) dreams of making it big as a pop singer. Unbeknown to her strict and religious mother, Violet occasionally sings at a local pub, where her biggest fan is a retired opera singer, Vlad, who at first sight seems like a hopeless drunk she has every reason not to trust, but he will eventually become her mentor and father figure on her road to stardom. When local tryouts begin for the hit international singing competition television series Teen Spirit, a fictional take on Pop Idol, she knows she has to team up with her wise friend/manager and give it her best shot. After making the finals and arriving to London, the now admired and celebrated Violet will have to cope with her new image, make tough decisions, and face the music.

Fanning carries the movie, with her commitment and versatility, and does her own singing. The Croatian actor Zlatko Buric is quite adorable as her mysterious mentor, and the chemistry these two have is beautiful and believable. But at the very least, though, the movie feels old and average in what it presents: a misunderstood rising star brought up in a conservative household, the fierce competition, the selling out, the sacrifices, and the big price that must be paid when one is famous. If Minghella’s directorial debut, which he also wrote, intended to revisit a worn-out theme that celebrates or looks within the instant celebrity culture we are currently living in, he could’ve at least tried to add a few twists or not take himself so seriously with the muted cinematography and histrionic scenes.

The raw, in-your-face editing is unusual in the way it presents multiple but simultaneously connected actions to tell the story and is a fresh departure for the genre, and the actors try their best working with a forgettable and predictable script. Add this to one cloudy Sunday afternoon’s viewing, or watch Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan’s witty music industry romp Josie and the Pussycats (2001) instead.