After collecting the tickets, we headed into the cinema. I met StephieTan from Fashion Nation / Stephie Says and she was seated right beside me! Also met Jerrick some rows behind!

Before the movie began, we were treated to a dance performances to songs from the Fame soundtrack album, that strangely reminded me of National Day Parade dance performances. I know that’s slightly mean, especially since NDP dancers I’ve seen are definitely much more coordinated and synchronized than the dancers last night were.

The whole dance that seemed to me like a contrived attempt at being sexy, modern, and hip all at the same time. And it failed. All of them. To be fair, they probably had a week of rehearsal prior to the performance last night, but for a movie focused on performing arts and with dance as one of the stronger points of the movie, I just expected better.

After the dances ended, lights were dimmed, and we were transported into a world of flurry depicting performing arts hopefuls preparing for their audition day, to enter the New York City High School of Performing Arts.

Let me begin by saying that I really enjoyed the movie, and do highly recommend it to readers of this blog. However, there were bits and pieces of the movie that was unsatisfactory to me, and I will begin by highlighting those, and end with the bits that I enjoyed.

Of all the scenes, I probably loved the opening of the movie most, with short glimpses of students’ auditions – perhaps the one I loved most was that of Joy’s monologue for her theatre major. I had goosebumps listening to her for that one minute or less, so do look out for it! Fame starts on a high note – with success stories of aspiring artistes making the cut to entitle them their first step towards stardom.

Moving on, the movie got darker and darker, and I felt that there were a lot of stereotypes about artistes and performing arts, like how people have to suffer before they can truly be masters at their own art, etc. But one thing that struck me was what theatre teacher Alvin Dowd said to theatre/rap music student Malik, that essentially meant (I don’t remember the exact words): We need actors who can’t play angry people, but we don’t need angry actors. Do you know the difference?

The characters in the movie were all underdeveloped (perhaps due to time restrictions, but that’s quite a lame excuse for not developing a character, imo), and you don’t see how they’ve progressed or developed themselves in their art, except perhaps lead character classical pianist turned singer, Denise. Her development was rather dramatic, but it lent a positive note to the entire movie. I felt that there were too many focal points, too many characters, and too little depth to the characters.

The movie never reaches a climax, but is overall, a wonderfully entertaining movie that follows the typical literary plot of the quest, where the protagonist(s) set out on a search for something, and attains experiences that develop his character (except the characters don’t really develop much in this case), and after some inspiring incident, the protagonist finally arrives at what he was looking for, although it may not be what he intended initially.

I couldn’t find the key message in the movie. It was lost beneath all those disjointed scenes that seemed like random short stories, and they never really contributed to any overall story line. In fact, if you’re looking for either key message or storyline, you probably won’t find it in Fame.

Indeed, I found myself asking: What was the key message? Do not give up your dreams no matter what other people tell you? Or, you may not always be cut out to do the things you like to do? Always have a Plan B?

In the movie, we also see at least 2 students dropping out of the high school to pursue careers in the real working world of performing arts. However, I kind of sit on the fence with regard to that – while it’s awesome that they sent the message that educational qualifications are (in some cases) not as important as talent and passion, I don’t think the message will sit well with parents and educators.

This feel-good movie’s strongest point probably lies in the performances, but there was a huge imbalance. For example, I felt that dance, song and theatre were given more screentime than others (although in theatre, Jenny and Malik’s stories were tiresome and cheesy), perhaps for theatrical and dramatic effects, as they are easier to portray and better-received by audiences of this generation? The orchestra and classical music performers were rather underrated, only making a real appearance for about 30 seconds, at the graduation performance. I loved the artistic cinematography, the music, the dance choreography, and the glimpses of passion that you could see within the characters.

Do go and watch the movie at Cathay this weekend! It’s definitely one that you should watch on the big screen if you love dance, drama, and music!

And now! For the giveaway!

Who wants Fame goodies?

I have one Fame Original Soundtrack CD and one mystery Fame merchandise to give away to two lucky readers!

To win this CD, just answer these 3 simple questions:

1. In what year was the original Fame movie released?
2. How many songs does Asher Book sing in the Fame OST album?
3. Why do you think you deserve this CD? (most creative answer wins)

Contest Terms & Conditions:

All entries must be emailed to contact [at] daphnemaia [dot] sg before Saturday, 26 September 2009, 2359 hrs.

All participants must be residents of Singapore (with a local address for me to send the prizes to).

Winners will be announced on this blog, on Sunday, 27 September 2009. All winners will be notified by email. Good luck!