Brave New Girl, on on ABC Family
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Okay, I watched this because Lindsey Haun (whom I knew from The Color of Friendship) is in it. But I wasn't expecting too much from the movie. And for the most part I just found it tolerable. Anyway, Haun plays this girl named Holly who is a decent small town country singer but has no training in music. She gets a scholarship to a classical conservatory but of course she's supposed to already know a ton of junk by the time she gets there, which she doesn't. Including how to speak Italian, French, and German. Because all the voice majors have to sing opera. And of course there's a student, named Angela, who makes trouble for her. But Holly becomes friends with her roommate Ditz, who's a dancer. Oh, and Holly's mom, Wanda (Virginia Madsen) is a single parent since her husband left her before Holly was born. She loses her home when the bank forecloses, and her car breaks down after dropping Holly off, so she stays in town and gets a job and stays on campus with Holly and Ditz. And there's this guy named Grant who wants to go out with Holly. And there's a teacher's aide named Zoe who helps Holly practice. I need to mention all those people because I don't care.

Anyway, the story's not particularly original or anything. Like I said, it was just tolerable. But what I did like about the movie was the little bits of opera we get to hear the students sing. Even if Angela's a stereotypical conniving whatever, she's still a damn good singer. And so's Holly. She learns, y'know? Still, the movie's basically forgettable and probably the only reason I'm bothering to mention it here at all is because I like the end. Holly sings Habaņera (or a part of it), from "Carmen." She does it well. Then it turns into a pop number ("Stronger Than We Know"), based on the same song. Okay, I thought it was kinda like "Diva Dance" from The Fifth Element. I like that kinda thing. I can't help it. I think lots of kinds of music can be good and putting different kinds of things together like that can be even better. Sometimes. Or it can suck. But I liked it here. In fact, I always wanted to find an mp3 of it, but couldn't. I'm sure you could find a place to listen to it online, but not download it. Or you could even watch the scene on YouTube. But eventually I picked up a really cheap DVD of the movie, just to rip the scene and convert it to mp3, so, if you're interested, here you go:

Lindsey Haun - Stronger Than We Know