Sing Street Film Review by Bojana Duric
With endearing films like Once and Begin Again, John Carney charms yet again with a teenage boy rock band in Sing Street, which screened this past week at the Glasgow Film Festival 2016.
It starts off with a boy starting a band to impress a girl, but the music becomes much more than that. The music in Sing Street explores the ways in which we become connected even at the lowest of times. For this group of catholic school teenagers, the music allows them to escape the mean streets of Dublin during the 1980s and instead get lost in some incredible 80s tunes.
Conor, played by Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, and his bandmates are watching the world around them fall apart from the concerning poverty to the dimming atmosphere of lost hope and dreams. But then the band gets lost in music and you start to watch Conor transform from an awkward unconfident teenager to a passionate singer/songwriter who braves his way through a complex time – he fights for a girl, stands up to authority and chases his dreams in a town where dreams really don’t exist anymore. A lyrical journey that shows how music connects us and helps us cope with things that seem out of control – it steers us back from all the chaos while keeping us in tune with ourselves.
Though the film revolves around the band and the endearing young romance between Conor and Raphina (played by Lucy Boynton), you can’t ignore the sincere and heart-wrenching relationship between Conor and his older brother Brendan (played by Jack Reynor) who has a riveting passion and knowledge for music. In Conor’s eyes, he puts Brendan on a pedestal even though many see him as a college dropout still living at home. Once a young man with great potential, now a hash smoking homebody is what the exterior may let on but throughout the film his wise and thought provoking comments prove he’s much more than that. He becomes somewhat of a life coach for Conor – encouraging him to take chances, which he wishes he took years ago. As the ending credits noted the film is “For all the brothers out there”, the relationship between Brendan and Conor is truly a testament to that.
If the story doesn’t reel you in then the film’s soundtrack will do it. Sing Street is a blast from the past with some of the greatest music legends who defined the 80s like The Cure, Ah-ha and Duran Duran. From the MTV inspired videos from the early days, to singing along to some of the greatest hits, Sing Street will bring back some nostalgia from growing up while it delivers some of the greatest music moments from the 80s.
Sing Street Film Review by Bojana Duric
