Like many other white dudes who are nowhere near as original as they’d like to be, I rather enjoy ‘High Fidelity.’ We’re talking book and movie; there was a period in my 20s where I would either read Nick Hornby’s novel or watch the John Cusack movie after every breakup. It was, as the saying goes, an example of life imitating art imitating life. Unlike some (cough Cusack), I also welcomed the idea of a new adaptation. ‘High Fidelity’ offers a narrowly male perspective on heartbreak and creeping middle age, but it also provides a framework that can be opened up in any number of ways.
READ MORE: John Cusack Thinks Disney Will “F— Up” the “High Fidelity” TV Series
And if this first look is any indication, they’ve done just that. The first teaser for ‘High Fidelity’ introduces us to Zoë Kravitz‘s lead character, a thirty-something record-store owner who, shockingly, seems to have made her struggles in life and commerce central to her self-identity. All joking aside, Kravitz’s dry sense of humor and easy charm makes her a natural for the role, and this seems like the perfect vehicle for her as an actress. Self-depreciation? Snobbery? A little bit of fourth-wall-breaking? Check, check, and check.
READ MORE: Zoe Kravitz To Do Her Best John Cusack In Disney’s Upcoming ‘High Fidelity’ Series
In its synopsis for the series, Hulu openly positions ‘High Fidelity’ as a departure from both the book and the movie, noting that the series will instead focus on “a female record store owner in the rapidly gentrified neighborhood of Crown Heights, Brooklyn who revisits past relationships through music and pop culture.” In this context, it would seem that Hulu is positioning ‘High Fidelity’ to be their answer to Netflix’s ‘Dear White People,’ another series that operated at the intersection of race, culture, and meta-commentary. Regardless, we’ll know for sure when the series drops on February 14, 2020.