Youth-savvy!

Rating: 9/10 (15 March 2008)

It's a movie with John Cusack, Jack Black and Iben Hjejle (who, by the way, is the cutest girl I've seen in a film since Audrey Tatou in Amelie). I had heard about the book and the film quite a while ago in passing - probably on Wikipedia - and when I heard that the film featured loads of music and film references, I was intrigued. I had seen "Tapeheads" before, which was both Tim Robbins' and John Cusack's first feature film in which they acted. "Tapeheads" was about the two starting a music video directing company. It's was really strange, and absurd to say the least - very very very 80's! Just to tell you what the film is about. It's about a man (Robert) in his thirties who lives in Chicago and owns a record store. He has a great fondness for popular music, and likes to talk about music if he can in conversation - in fact, there's one scene in which he discusses the "science and art of creating the perfect compilation". Featured throughout the film are pretentious "Top 5" lists he compiles - like "Top 5 opening tracks" or "Top 5 Dream Jobs". The first one that he begins the film with is his "Top 5 Worst Break-Ups" and he proceeds to talk about them, through the aid of flashbacks. He has recently broken up with a girl named Laura (played by Hjejle), and has consequently positioned her at "No. 5 with a bullet" because she has decided to be with a ex-neighbour whom he particularly detests (incidently, played by Tim Robbins). He then seeks out his "Top 4 Break-Ups" in an attempt to discover why he always screws up with the opposite sex.
I was very glad to have caught "High Fidelity" three minutes in on BBC1 - and am even more so now that I have seen it. Much like the "Top 5" lists featured in the film, there are films that just, once you've seen them once, you just adore them and want to share them with as many people as you can - High Fidelity is no exception, and makes my Top 5, I think.
The film is essentially more about love than music or pop references however, but don't be expecting embarrassing clichés and whatnot! Every reference to love or relationships and everything isn't sweetly sick and all the funny moments are neatly scattered across the film to ensure that the "love" parts don't become too forced or cheesy. Love is dealt with within the film to a great big deal, but it's very subtle - and it's done in a very tidy way, with John Cusack giving soliloquies every second scene as to how he feels, and analysing what he wants.
I think it's a great film for people my age - the bombardment of pop references do nothing but help this film achieve a "youth-savvy" status - and as a result, it helps people like me, who are still learning and coming to grips with the all relationships thing, to have an interest in this film, and Cusack's situations. The film explores the theme of not just falling in love, but also falling out of love - a topic not touched on by many authors or film-makers.
I've only seen this film once, but I'm convinced it will stand the test of time, as they say, because it effectively demonstrates how messy and how confusing "break-ups" and "get-back-together-agains" inevitably are. And even despite the fact that I didn't recognise all of the tunes played, it's "dated" soundtrack is filled with old-fashioned, hearty music. It's good stuff - music that you don't have to put much effort into listening to appreciate it. This film doesn't need to be updated with today's popular hits for its music to remain modern - sounds perfectly cool as it is. (There's at least one Chemical Brothers song, so it's not all Belle & Sebastian or Stevie Wonder)