Fame [Blu-ray] [1980] [Region Free]

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Fame helped to launch the 1980s on a tide of aspiration, creating a successful television series, kick-starting the leg-warmer industry and inspiring us all with the idea that with talent, a lot of hard work, plenty of suffering and luck, anybody might, one day, become a star. Nostalgia inevitably endows Fame with its own golden glow for anyone in the region of 40. And as we drown in the karaoke-by-numbers of today's cynical television talent shows, its touchingly innocent quality makes for a poignant and telling contrast. In truth, director Alan Parker's film is a collage of the disciplines on offer at New York's High School of Performing Arts. The characters are sketchy totems for the emotional and domestic conflicts that drive their dreams--Leroy, Doris and friends needed the television spin-off to give them substance--but Parker is brilliant at conveying the intensity and heartache of their collective journey, from the paralysing nerves of the auditions to the strain of maintaining a rounded education alongside the development of performance skills and the ultimate thrill of graduation. By the end, thanks to the familiarity of the thudding disco soundtrack, you really do want them all to "live forever". On the DVD: Fame scores all over again on DVD with its widescreen format and a thumping soundtrack: the moment when the kids burst out onto the street and stop the traffic is a bit of 1980s cinema magic. Alan Parker leads the class reunion commentary, helped by many of the cast. The film is clearly still important to them all. Other extras include a visit to today's school (hardly changed in philosophy or the passion of its real-life students), a vintage featurette and face-to-face interviews which basically recycle the commentary. --Piers Ford