Sing Street

SING STREET (12)

D: John Carney

Lionsgate/TWC/Irish Film Board (Anthony Bergman, John Carney, Kevin Scott Frakes, Christian Grass, Martina Niland, Raj Brinder Singh & Paul Trijbits)

Ireland/UK/US 2016

105 mins

Musical/Comedy/Drama

W: John Carney

DP: Yaron Orbach

Ed: Andrew Marcus & Julian Ulrichs

Ferdia Walsh-Peelo (Cosmo Lawlor), Lucy Boynton (Raphina), Ben Carolyn (Darren), Mark McKenna (Eamon), Percy Chamburuka (Ngig), Jack Reynor (Brendan Lawlor), Aidan Gillen (Robert Lawlor), Maria Doyle Kennedy (Penny Lawlor)

This junior version of The Commitments is writer-director John Carney's follow up to his breakthrough Once, and like the 2006 film, it utilises a similar method of using music and lyrics to underpin the plot. 

The story is a rather simple coming-of-age tale, set in 1980's Dublin, where a school outcast and his ragtag group of friends form a band, make video promos on a shoestring budget and ultimately play a gig at their conservatively stringent school, with a little romance thrown in as the band's lead singer develops a crush on an older girl who lives around the neighbourhood.

The film is full of nostalgia for the 1980's, with a feel-good vibe running through it and a soundtrack of some cracking songs, especially "Drive It Like You Stole It" which has become the film's unofficial anthem.

A deserved nominee for Best Musical or Comedy Film at the 2017 Golden Globes.

8/10