After the first fifteen minutes of The Choir you know how the rest of the film is going to go. And there are no surprises or deviations from this tired plight of the underdog.
Stet is a young man with a shit home life and associated anger issues. But boy, can he can sing. You can therefore predict that he will overcome all the odds to make the most of that talent. A cruel change of circumstance lands him in an elite school for a Boy Choir (the film’s American title). The pupils are from a different world to Stet, they listen to Handel and speak Latin. It’s predictable fish-out-of-water stuff, one teacher spurring him on, another holding him back and the other boys giving him a rough ride. Rivalry is rife and obstacles are many. Stet has the talent; he just needs the self belief.
Master Carvelle (Dustin Hoffman) is the archetypal artistic teacher, unwilling to compromise the music quality and reputation of the school. He has his own rivalry with fellow teacher Drake, played by a woefully underused Eddie Izzard. If he is impressed by Stet’s ability, he’s certainly not letting on, and is obviously reminded of himself as a young man. No chance of Stet becoming his protégé though, well at least until he’s proved his worth.
Like the conventional plot, there’s nothing memorable about the cinematography. The music that boys’ angelic voices make is pretty rousing and there is a memorable scene in the school chapel when Dustin Hoffman’s conducting them in the round.
Billy Elliot, Bend it Like Beckham, Whiplash, the outrageously talented young’un succeeding against the odds has almost become a genre of its own. And it’s uplifting if you don’t think about all the poor blighters who didn’t have a gift, or wise old mentor to guide them. François Girard’s The Choir tells a familiar tale, and not as well as it’s been told before. Scenes that should be charged with passion just fall flat. If you can stand the sentimental schmaltz, you might be moved.
The Choir has such a promising cast, with Kathy Bates and Eddie Izzard supporting Hoffman and Garrett Wareing (doing a decent job as young Stet) but their performances are not enough to save the film from its clichés.
The Choir is showing at Broadway Cinema until Thursday 23 July 2015.
The Choir Official
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