Alexa: John Carney has carved out a nice little niche for himself writing and directing movies about music, and its capacity to inspire and connect people. While Once (one of my all-time favorite movies) and Begin Again centered on struggling artists trying to make it as professional musicians, Sing Street dwells on young love and the simple notion of starting a band to win a girl’s heart. It’s a familiar premise, but Carney refreshes it in part by implementing the same tactic that elevated his previous music films – the expert use of infectious songs. Sing Street feels much more akin to The Commitments, another great Irish music film, than to Carney’s other works thanks to its lighter tone and retro tunes. It’s wistfully nostalgic without being trite. But aside from memorable music, Sing Street succeeds because of its heart. The characters are charismatic and earnest, and watching them transports you back to a time when achieving big dreams didn’t seem impossible, but probable. It pushes all my indie- and coming of age-loving buttons.
Joel: The charming coming of age drama about a boy who breaks out of his mundane life by discovering a love of music is not an uncommon set up for a movie. What is uncommon is one that’s done that this well. The movie is unquestionably about the love of a certain era of music. Like some of the director's earlier movies, at times this one feels like it was a soundtrack first, and the movie was built around that. But despite several actual songs from the 80s making appearances, there are more than a few original songs that really drive home the feeling of what music was like at that time period. Awards season this year is going to have some stiff competition for music, with the most popular songwriter alive right now teaming up with Disney (Lin Manuel Maranda for Moana) and a full blown musical getting a ton of attention. (La La Land) so it’s unlikely that Sing Street will get a ton of recognition in that area, which is a shame because it unquestionably deserves it.
The movie builds on Carney’s previous love letters to music by adding in the concept of the music video. The music video of the 1980s isn’t quite like any other art form before it, and you can see how the concept captures the attention of the characters. The story that is told, is a small, almost under the radar one, but it’s not to be overlooked. The characters aren’t out of left field original ones (dorky boy pines for a girl, etc.) but that makes their portrayal no less genuine. It’s a strong cast of young talent that is able to do a lot with very small understated moments.
Chris: Such a drastic contrast to last week's movie and that's a huge positive for Sing Street. It's admirable to hear the original music in conjunction with the 80s music it's inspired from. Typically, if a movie is set in this decade, the entire movie is centered around the quirks of the music and cultured to the point the entire movie seems to centered around the "huh, remember when this weirdness was a thing?" question. Sing Street is different as it uses specific songs as tent-poles for the plot, each song represents a new emphasis of the band and what the characters are going through.
Next week's movie: The Princess Bride
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