Film No. 41 (2016) Sing Street June 29th.

Film No. 41 (2016) June 29th.  6.30 PM LUNA Paradiso, Northbridge. 

"Do you want to be in a video for my band? (The line on which the film spins on its axis).

It's been two days since I watched my preview showing of Sing Street and I have sung it's praises to everyone I know who loves the movies. This is an easy film to recommend. The simplest description is that Sing Street is an adolescent version of The Commitments, only better. High praise I know but John Carney (Once, Begin Again) is a master of blending real love and original song making; he's the best in the business.

I'm reluctant to summarise the plot of Sing Street due to the high praise I have heaped upon the film. The plot is simple and has all been done before. Boy meets girl, both deal with speed bumps of the family variety along the way before they take the risks required to consummate their love. Simple doesn't have to mean lacking in quality, Romeo and Juliet is one of the greatest stories ever told. Sing Street rivals R & J for the charismatic charm it uses to tell another simple fairytale. 

The actors who bring this tale to life form a list of future stars. Bend it Like Beckham introduced us to Kiera Knightley. Lucy Boynton plays the mysterious Raphina who may well get offers of a comparative kind. Conor, the focus of most of our attention is played by Ferdia Walsh-Peelo a young actor who locks us to his every move and song in Sing Sreet. Never heard of him? Me neither and for good reason this is his debut feature film. Jack Reynor, the most experienced of the cast, plays Brendan (Conor's older brother), a stoner but highly insightful. His performance is the glue which holds everything that Sing Street is together.

After the relative, undeserved, failure of Begin Again, Carney has returned to his roots. While the risks he takes in making Sing Street match the risks his characters take to consummate ambition and love, he never the less brings us a film of the highest quality. Sing Street is full of original sound, ideas, personalities and yet, we've seen it before. It mesmerises us in the same way that Once did. I'm hoping it will have the same view and re-view qualities for adolescents that Mean Girls enjoyed. But because it's lessons are more for boys (brothers even) I'm not optimistic. Don't miss Sing Street  11GUMS.