JimBell Blog

High Fidelity

Under discussion:
High Fidelity (2000)

Under discussion:

High Fidelity (2000)

High Fidelity (2000) is a superbly made movie—wonderful direction (Stephen Frears), excellent pace, editing that matches the subject matter, top-notch acting, and a couple of messages wrapped in wry comedy. I enjoyed it as much as the first time I saw it when it came out. That said, it focuses relentlessly on a topic that might not be appealing to a lot of people, and is less and less interesting to me: a thirty-something guy who won’t grow up in his relationships with women or his career. Furthermore, the messages aren’t as profound as I thought they were years ago. One: With women, you should think of what they might want rather than doing whatever is necessary to get them into bed and make yourself happy. Not that profound. Two: It is better to be a productive participant than a side-line critic. This is a more thought-provoking theme. But “criticism”, which Matthew Arnold maintained could be one of the most important things in a healthy society, doesn’t get a fair shake: The three record-store pop-music nerds are, respectively, burned-out, obnoxiously opinionated, and too shy to say much. While their chatter about rock music is realistic, it is not exemplary criticism. So when the main character becomes creatively productive at the end of the movie, it feels much better than passing ready judgement on records.

posted on Thursday, August 30, 2007 6:07 PM by JimBell

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Windbreaker
Posted Monday, September 03, 2007 4:28 PM

I think you captured why High Fidelity won't make the leap to "Classics of the 2000s" when we reflect twenty years from now. Still, I'm a big fan. It's one of those movies that you'll always see on the cheap DVD shelf. I've found that music geeks tend to really like it for all the record store banter and love of vinyl.

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