Music is soul.

Rating: Null/10 (10 September 2000)

I knew HIGH FIDELITY was hitting the mark when I became jealous of Rob Gordon's (John Cusack) knowledge of ultra-obscure rock history. Music appreciation lends itself to snobbery you see, but in the best possible manner. Music is soul, and the characters in the film understand as much. It is surely the sign of a great film when you look at the screen and see people just like yourself up there.
You rarely see films as committed to people as HIGH FIDELITY that are this much fun. It is about men dealing with themselves, with women, and with music, often all at once. After the break-up of a relationship, Rob proceeds to organise his record collection not chronologically or alphabetically, but autobiographically. `Music is the soundtrack to your life' as the tagline tells us.
HIGH FIDELITY is about so much more than music. It handles relationships sincerely, not sentimentally. When issues like infidelity and abortion arise, director Stephen Frears avoids making it feel like these are merely plot devices or sympathy plays. In fact, the characters make little effort to be liked. It is credit to the ego-less performance of Cusack that Rob's story is so affecting.
But apparently there were creative differences between director and star over editing, Cusack wanting the music to play a more significant role in the film. This is intriguing because the ultra-cool soundtrack is relegated to the background throughout. It is annoying that while the songs represent such a strong emotional significance to the character, they're little more than hipster muzak to the audience.
Struggling with an unconvincing pledge of male sensitivity, the film loses its legs a little towards the end. That said, HIGH FIDELITY is a grand achievement. From the first scene until the killer Stevie Wonder/Love 1-2 over the closing credits, it preaches genuine cool all the way, something films are always trying to force, but rarely achieve.