theironcupcake’s review published on Letterboxd:
"It's just that I want to make something out of my life, I want to do so much and sometimes, sometimes I think that it's just not going to happen."
A year and a half ago, I wrote about Fame, which has a special significance for me with memories of my former violin teacher. Now I'm revisiting another film with an Oscar-winning theme song sung by Irene Cara - another time to pay tribute.
If this really is just one long string of music videos held up by a thin thread of narrative, it's a damn good one. "He's a Dream," "Maniac" and "Manhunt" are all such iconic moments, not to mention the sweet friendship between Alex (Jennifer Beals) and Jeanie (Sunny Johnson), especially when the latter fails her "Gloria" ice skating competition; one of my favorite aspects of Flashdance is that the women don't compete with each other either on or off of the dancefloor, unless of course you count the restaurant scene in which Alex (in a fantastic tuxedo; a real power move if you ask me) fends off her new boyfriend Nick's (Michael Nouri) ex-wife. Is the huge age gap between 18-year-old Alex and her thirtysomething beau - who is also the young dancer/welder's boss at a Pittsburgh steel mill - necessarily the best? No, but it's still probably the most convincing love story I've ever seen in an Adrian Lyne-directed romance, which surely counts for something. So much in this film renders it a problematic fave, why not throw that in too?
Anyway, it's all worth it to get to the long-awaited conservatory audition with "What a Feeling" returning to soundtrack Alex's final terpsichorean showcase, Irene Cara's voice and lyrics reminding her and all of us watching of the advice that we all need to hear from time to time:
Take your passion and make it happen.
"Dreaming is wonderful. But it won't get you closer to what you want."