“I was famous”: why has the Netflix movie managed to move thousands? | REVIEW

Perhaps because he is well aware that he is no longer at the peak of the success that Stereo Dream gave him, the boyband he joined twenty years ago, Vince (Ed Skrein) does not feel ashamed when he has to carry his keyboard resting on an old ironing board. in search of a place that allows him to play his “song proposals” live as a soloist. Noticeably different from young Vinnie D, today he looks somewhat wrinkled, with messy hair and also very hungry.

Tired from so much walking, Vince sits on a bench in the humble neighborhood of Peckham, in London, to refine one of his possible new songs. Just a few seconds after starting, a young man with drumsticks (Stevie/Leo Long) begins to keep up, hitting first a bench and then the bars of a trash can. What initially annoyed Vince ends up surprising him. And the applause from the audience around him (something he had probably forgotten over the years) amazes him.

So far we have told the initial plot of “I was famous”, a film directed by Eddie Sternberg that has just been released on Netflix. It is a musical comedy that jumps into drama at the right moments. The film tells the story of a retired artist from a boy band who, completely removed from endless tours and gold records, cannot shake the feeling of guilt for having missed the last birthday of his younger brother, who died a long time ago from a painful disease.

As most probably those over 30 remember well, the boybands caused a sensation at the time, when they were presented to handsome young men who, aided by their charisma and –on many occasions by their playback—resounded in different latitudes. Although some of these guys managed to make their own way later (Justin Timberlake, perhaps the most popular case), others ended up in the most complete nothing.

Going back to the story, Vince is convinced that Stevie is the drummer who can help him out. Although he is initially unaware of his autistic condition, he soon finds out because she is his mother, Amber/Eleanor Matsuura, who points it out to him using a warning that sounds more like a threat. The young mother of this ‘diamond in the rough’ (with no husband or boyfriend in sight) put aside her passion for dance to give everything for her son. She follows him as if she were her shadow to protect him from bullying and also hands him her drumsticks to calm him down with the simple rattle of both sticks on any flat surface.

Both main characters are already known, “I was famous” is revealed as a portrait of the differences that can turn two men into unexpected friends. Vince has tasted fame, while Stevie stays in her room almost protected from the outside environment. Vince moved away from his mother after her brother’s death, while Stevie can’t shake even the shadow of his own.

A separate point here. Although only twenty years have passed since his peak in Stero Dream, Vince seems to have remained stuck in the past. That’s why when a former fan turned hater today shows him the success of the viral video of him playing with Stevie in Peckham he can’t believe it. He decides, therefore, to take said clip to the bars that have already rejected it more than once. Then the first light of hope comes on.

Among the various elements that “Yo era famoso” successfully presents is, invariably, its universe of candor and naturalness, attributed to the humble suburbs where what you least see are millionaires and luxurious cars, but perhaps many ‘cool’ people do. ‘. Graffiti facades, markets with both British citizens and immigrants, adorn a fundamentally compelling proposition. The latter is perhaps much more noticeable in Stevie’s neighborhood band, which Vince joins first out of “interest” and then out of a genuine desire to feel in company.

But beyond the new ‘world’ that Vince integrates in Peckham, the protagonist of this story seems willing to do anything to rise to stardom once again. That’s why he seeks out the most successful of his former Stereo Dream bandmates (Austin / Eoin Macken) to lend him a hand. In the middle of a luxurious musical studio, he will remember how his adolescence ended between massive concerts and the abandonment of his sick brother.

Eddie Sternberg’s film has one of its great strengths in the aforementioned differences between its protagonists: someone who wants to conquer the world versus someone who only wants a good friend. As viewers begin to marvel at the chemistry of a bright autistic boy and a rundown keyboardist, it will be the former’s mother who—out of her natural desire to be overprotective—becomes the obstacle to things moving forward.

One might feel that “I was famous” reminds one of different movies with this tone. From “The Soloist” (with Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr.), to the recently awarded CODA, where Emilia Jones gives life to Ruby Rossi, an aspiring singer raised in a family of deaf-mute fishermen. But allowing us a license, this new audiovisual product also has extremely magical moments such as those transmitted by “Under the same star”, adaptation of the novel of the same name written by John Green.

Will Vince and Stevie be able to form a successful musical duo despite the difficulties of starting from scratch in today’s music scene? Will Amber understand that music may be able to give her sheltered son Stevie the world she couldn’t? Will Vince understand that for others to forgive you, you must first forgive yourself? These are just some of the questions that viewers will answer as the minutes of “I was famous” go by, a moving journey through the most sublime of the human race: friendship.

“I WAS FAMOUS”- NETFLIX

Gender: music, drama

Country and year: Great Britain, 2022.

Director: eddie sternberg

Distribution: Ed Skrein, Leo Long, Eleanor Matsuura

Synopsis: A former boy band star gets a second chance when he teams up with a talented drummer.