Based upon the novel by Nick Hornby
10 episode television series Developed by Veronica West & Sarah Kucserka
Released February 14, 2020
What goes around comes around...again...
When I first heard the news some time in the past that Nick Hornby's seminal, brilliant novel High Fidelity, which had already been adapted 20 years ago into an equally seminal, brilliant feature film by Director Stephen Frears and Co-Writer/Executive Producer and actor John Cusack (starring in one of the finest performances of his entire career, in my opinion), was being adapted again and this time into a gender swapping television series overseen by Disney, I truly hit the roof!
Now before any one you begin to question if some element of toxic masculinity was the forceful base of my reactions, let me squash those thoughts immediately. My feelings stemmed purely and vehemently from my on-going distaste with Hollywood's prevalence for returning to the well with its continuous stream of re-makes, reboots, re-imaginings, sequels, prequels and so on and so forth and so on at the complete expense of creating something we haven't seen yet before.
For me, flipping genders from originals to re-makes is yet another version of a crassly conceived and therefore filmed Hollywood boardroom deal. I was displeasured by the idea of the women led remakes of Ivan Reitman's "Ghostbusters" (1984) and Steven Soderbergh's "Ocean's Eleven" (2001) not because these films were led by women. I would love to see those actresses in almost anything together!! I just felt saddened and disturbed that Hollywood wouldn't even try to execute any creative wherewithal to invent something new for these actresses to take and make as their collective own.
With regards to High Fidelity, the idea of a remake cut too close to the bone. Even when the announcement was made that Zoe Kravitz would be starring in the series, I still balked due to the nature of the the project being a remake. I would love to see Kravitz as a 21st century record store owner but why...WHY does it have to be "High Fidelity" other than it being a property that itself possesses a pre-made audience with pre-conceived notions rather than something entirely unfamiliar?
And beyond even that, for me, Hornby's original novel and Frears' film are, and only continue to be, personal to the point of being primal, beautifully articulating my own feelings and fears about music, melancholia, maturation and mixtapes, directly back to myself, easily as much as anything I ever connected with from both the late John Hughes and Cameron Crowe. The previous versions are wonderful just as they are, and therefore, they do not need to be remade in any way, for risk of tainting something that contains such importance to me.
So, now, here we are in 2020 and on Valentine's Day, the Hulu streaming service premiered all 10 episodes to strong reviews...which did intrigue me...admittedly. Kravitz's role as one of the series' hands on Executive Producers, alongside Nick Hornby himself, plus even the presence of The Roots' Questlove as the curator of the series' musical patchwork gave me some extremely confident pushes to giving it a try. Finally, I was convinced via the words of trusted friends who watched and enjoyed.
And now, I write to you from my home base, off work, practicing social distancing and having more than enough time upon my hands, to inform you that over the past two and a half days, I have watched the entire series and have been so superbly surprised and this new adaptation of "High Fidelity," as overseen by Writer/Producers Veronica West and Sarah Kucserka, is as fine and pure of a remake as I could have hoped for as it is fully reverential to all that has arrived before while smartly and richly carving out an original path of its own.
Transplanting the action once again from Nick Hornby's London set novel and Stephen Frears's Chicago based film version, the New York City based "High Fidelity" chronicles the life and times of Robyn "Rob" Brooks (Zoe Kravitz), a late 20's record store owner and music obsessive enduring the pain of a breakup with Russell "Mac" McCormack (Kingsley Ben-Adir) by travelling through her romantic past via her "Top 5 Heartbreaks," as a means to try and understand where she has gone wrong in her life.
In addition to owning and operating her establishment Championship Vinyl, Rob's days consist of vigorously bantering over arcane musical trivia and Top 5 lists with her two friends and employees, ex-boyfriend/now homosexual Simon Miller (an excellent David H. Holmes) and the boisterous, belligerent, bombastic Cherise (a dynamic Da'Vine Joy Randolph), while her nights are often spent wallowing in her heartache, smoking and drinking, and charting her romantic loss through the music that has surrounded her life.
Now, one year after her breakup with Mac, and the tentative beginnings with a potential new interest in Clyde (Jake Lacy), Rob's word is further upended by Mac's return to the city...this time, with a fiance.
In the 25 years since the book's original publication and now reborn with this new adaptation, it really amazes me with how malleable Nick Hornby's story actually is, especially as the book still feels to be so quintessentially British. But this story is not about location, although it serves as a crucial character. Stephen Frears and John Cusack expertly brought the story to America fully intact and also made it a Chicago story and now, Veronica West and Sarah Kucserka have not only brought the stor to New York, they have performed what felt to be kind of unspeakable.
In a book and film that is designed to be an exploration of the decidedly male mindset in regards to relationships and music, keeping the heart and soul of the story untouched while changing the gender of the leading character felt to be unfathomable and yet, in actuality, this time, the gender flip is perfection, thus giving "High Fidelity" an extremely vibrant new life--one that honors its origins but one that is decidedly feminist while simultaneously showcasing how when it comes to relationships and music, the actions and emotions of men and women nursing romantic wounds and staring down hard self-questionings about their specific existential spaces in life itself are not diametrically opposed whatsoever.
In fact, West and Kucserka's "High Fidelity" illustrates the overall humanity of Hornby's story beautifully with intelligence, copious humor, honest sexuality, meticulously observed odes to how people truly behave and feel and all completely set to an exquisitely curated soundtrack.
Arriving 20 years after the film version, it is also interesting to witness how the world of music itself and our relationship with it has altered and remained the same. In the film, vinyl was dying, yet now, Rob's record store is doing well enough due to the resurgence of vinyl. The mixtapes of the novel and film have been replaced by Spotify playlists yet the intensely heartfelt creation of that perfect curation remains wholly intact. And in all three versions, music is utilized as an identifier, a shield, an outlet of personal expression when one's own words and deeds completely fail, and always, crucially, music is the source of creating connections, with others as well as with oneself, whether in London, Chicago or re-gentrified New York City.
As Rob, Zoe Kravitz owns the role, nearly as equally as John Cusack. Admittedly, it took a little bit to warm to her as she was clearly mimicking some of Cusack's rhythms and mannerisms here and there in early episodes, just as Da'Vine Joy Randolph tries to initially channel Jack Black's ferocious energy from the film version.
But after a stretch, everyone settles comfortably and richly into their respective roles and all of the nods to the film--from dialogue, wardrobe choices to music cues on the soundtrack (The Beta Band, Stevie Wonder)-- I could then witness that West and Kucserka were creating echoes to the film (even Kravitz's entire look appears to have been designed to echo the appearance of her own Mother, Lisa Bonet in the film version, which is, at times, a little eerie), moments designed to be played off of each other, signifying the overall universality of Hornby's story, regardless of time, place and gender....and even race.
As I have previously stated, my connection to Nick Hornby's novel and Stephen Frears' film is downright primal, despite the fact that the character of Rob in both versions is a White male. By now making Rob a bi-racial/bi-sexual female, the representation feels honest and not shoe-horned and it is that very inclusivity that allows ALL music obsessives to recognize themselves...for better or for worse.
That being said, the feminine energy and viewpoint in West and Kucserka's "High Fidelity" is paramount to its overall success and relevance. Just the sight of Zoe Kravitz as Rob as a young, Black, female business owner is powerful enough (as are the series' matter-of-fact depictions of inter-racial relationships and the image of Black people working and simply living life).
But scenes and episodes where her womanhood is the subtle engine--most notably, episode #5 during which she and Clyde visit a woman (an excellent Parker Posey) attempting to sell her husband's prized record collection (itself a scene from the novel and a deleted scene from the film version) and a sequence where she eviscerates a male blowhard over the vitality of Paul McCartney and Wings' triple live album "Wings Over America" (released December 10, 1976)--are outstanding and therefore cements this version within its own universe.
The "High Fidelity" series works at its finest when it uses the novel and film as inspiration and spirals into uncharted territories. An episode that shifts the focus entirely from Rob to Simon is a heartbreaking knockout and Cherise, fueled by her ambition to make her own musical statement--much to the chagrin of her friends--is broadened greatly thus giving the character a poignant depth that was not witnessed with the previous incarnations. And the central romance of Rob and Mac also now carries a greater weight and pain, allowing Kravitz to deliver the goods as Rob truly becomes multi-layered, and three dimensional in ways that are different from the novel and film.
Kravitz's Rob is equally cantankerous and obsessive for certain, this time, this Rob is also more openly selfish, self-absorbed and at times, even cruel with her callousness, all of which is fueled by her sense of romantic loss and existential angst. It woud also not be unfair to question if she is also nursing some serious addiction issues as she chain-smokes, is perpetually stoned and drinks excessively (even her brother Cameron--played by Rainbow Sun Francks--indulges in cocaine to cope with his own stresses as an impending parent). These specific qualities allow all three versions of Rob to face the same internal and developmental trajectory while also being completely individualistic.
...and isn't that very internal and developmental trajectory precisely what has made Nick Hornby's story endure for over two decades and generations anyway?
We have all been here before and we will all be here again in one way or another and like a cherished album, Veronica West and Sarah Kucserka's "High Fidelity" explodes from being a mere set of songs into being its own artistic statement inits own right. Exceedingly well written, directed and acted it is so very well done, it just may even spark new life into the genre of remakes.
Perhaps I am getting ahead of myself but this new version deftly demonstrates that "High Fidelity" was a song worth singing all over again.
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