Review of Sing Street (2016) by Pete H — 07 Jun 2016
This film is an absolute delight, utterly charming. It is the story of a Dublin schoolboy, Conor, putting a band together so that enigmatic would be model Raphina will appear in a video. It immediately brings to mind any number of "putting the band together" movies, and indeed directly and knowingly references them. A priest flick-flacks straight out of the Blues Brothers, an elder brother provides Conor with a School of Rock, and by casting Maria Doyle Kennedy, Natalie in the Commitments, as Conor's mother director John Carney seems to be seeking to accept the baton for the next generation.
It is however, it's own film and beautifully balances it's way along a line between feel good fairy story and gritty realism. This is a film which has one foot in a wish fulfilment fantasy, the other in a world of marital break ups and parental and clerical child abuse.
The heart of the film is the music, as the band rapidly transitions through 80s musical styles, from Duran Duran, through Spandau Ballet and the Cure to Hall and Oates, in a series of tributes/pastiches.
As Mark Kermode captured the essence of the film, I laughed, I cried, I bought the soundtrack.
This review of Sing Street (2016) was written by Pete H on 07 Jun 2016.
Sing Street has generally received very positive reviews.
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