Madalynn Wilson
Lantern Staff
“High Fidelity”, the 1995 book by Nick Hornby and the 2000 movie with John Cusack and Lisa Bonet, has been reimagined yet again with a 10-episode Hulu series starring Bonet’s daughter, Zoe Kravitz as Rob. The first season was released on Friday, Feb. 14. The show focuses on Rob, a record store owner, revisiting her past relationships through music.
Since the main character is the owner of a record shop, the show had the opportunity to make music a big part of the storytelling, and it was. There was a team of music supervisors working on the show, including Questlove who is the drummer and joint frontman for The Roots. The team made sure to use a variety of music from all around the world and from all different time periods. This brought the characters to life and made it believable that they all truly love music of all kinds.
The music enhanced the true story of the show, which was about Rob (Zoe Kravitz) still being emotionally stuck in her past relationships. At times, the plot moved slowly, but it was always picked back up by the great acting from Kravitz and the rest of the cast.
Kravitz really shined through during some of her truly heart wrenching scenes as well as when she broke the fourth wall and talked straight to the camera throughout the show. Normally, I don’t like characters talking directly to camera because it takes me out of the story. However, as the show progressed, those scenes became my favorite parts of the show and added something new to the story rather than take away.
The show was a timely modern take on the book and movie of the same name. Rob, a woman of color, never discusses her sexuality, but one of her exes is a woman. One of her best friends, Cherise, is a black woman, and her other friend, Simon, is gay (and gets one episode from his perspective) and none of it felt forced. It didn’t seem like the show did this to get diversity points. It was to give people who typically aren’t main characters in TV and movies the driver’s seat and show them in a space where they typically aren’t, like the world of music that is dominated by white men.
I give the show an 8/10. It was the perfect time for another remake and the acting was wonderful. My only critique is that the show moved slowly at some points and didn’t keep the momentum going. However, if the show gets renewed for another season, I will definitely be watching.
