Fame High isn’t Fame, the movie, spin-off TV show or musical. No one busts out into perfectly choreographed dancing and singing in the middle of lunch. Fame High is a documentary about four students who attend Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA): a singer, a jazz pianist, a ballet dancer and an actress. If you are from the East Coast like me, you have never heard of LACHSA , but if you are interested in all things artsy fartsy, you will be curious to learn more so I watched Fame High.
You will be as interested in Fame High as you are in the featured students. To further the singer’s career, the parents temporarily live in different locations so she can attend the school-dad is at home, and mom comes to LA with her. She divides her time between school and trying to get noticed by getting singing gigs anywhere with mixed results. She clearly wants this life, and the parents are unblinkingly supportive. The jazz pianist seems initially ambivalent and torn between what he and/or his father wants and how the school is trying to mold him into becoming better. The ballet dancer comes from an incredibly loving home. Her family does not completely get her devotion to the arts, but is still supportive-her ending cracked me up. The actress was probably the hardest one to watch. She is the child of two actors and seems more managed than parented by them. I don’t think that she ever stops giving a performance even when she is playing herself, but it isn’t necessarily a good one. Her acting style is more declarative and about protecting than feeling.
There is no narration so you are expected to draw your own conclusions. They are kids so if the family’s socioeconomic status is good, they will talk more about their social lives. If the family is struggling, the students rarely if ever speak of their social life and focus more on their career outside of school than their studies, which still jeopardizes their career since it means less opportunities to matriculate or be a part of certain extracurricular activities which are crucial to their development as artists.
I’m not going to pretend that I found Fame High riveting. I didn’t. I was really frustrated because there was a female jazz pianist who was clearly even better than the one featured, but we only saw snippets of her. I understand that they probably had to stick with the students who consented and that the filmmakers chose. I also get a little queasy when children, even teenagers, are featured in documentaries or reality shows. Let them cook before they have to be judged the rest of their lives for even good exposure.
If you find the subject matter interesting, then check out Fame High, but it is not a must see, and your enjoyment is directly proportional to your interest in the featured students.