SING STREET Is a Clear-Eyed and Joyous Coming of Age Story — Sundance Review
I’m just going to say this up front: no one dies in Sing Street. That’s not the only reason I loved it so much, but this year at Sundance I saw Molly Shannon slowly die of cancer, a nun murder some babies, more than one person eaten by a fucking dog, and myriad other devastating tragedies (don’t even get me started on Manchester by the Sea, review coming soon), so the fact that Sing Street was ultimately joyful was a blessed relief.
Writer-director John Carney’s newest film (he also made Once and Begin Again) returns to Dublin and returns to the kind of personal storytelling we loved so much in Once. Admittedly semi-autobiographical, Sing Street is set in 1985 and focuses on Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), a young teen whose parents, in the midst of money problems and marital problems, send him to Synge Street School, a nightmare of a boys school whose motto is Viriliter Age — "act manly." It's not the place you'd expect him to thrive. When he meets Raphina (Lucy Boynton), a model who is moving to London any day now, he starts a band so that he can have her star in their music videos. He may have only gotten into it to impress a girl, but music quickly becomes his refuge as he deals with a monstrous headmaster, the rapidly devolving situation at home, and his growing feelings for Raphina. Also, he starts to get pretty good at it.
That band’s progression is maybe the funnest part of the movie. Their first original song, “The Riddle of the Model,” is crap in the best way, and the video — and the video shoot — is even worse/funnier. But they get better as the movie goes on, and the characters, especially Conor and bandmate Eamon (Mark McKenna) are actually talented. There is a fantastic running visual gag about the way Conor is absorbing all of his new musical knowledge, and the quality of the songs improves as well, building until they play a raucous show at their school’s end of term disco. The songs themselves are wonderful ‘80s throwbacks, paying homage to the great bands of the era, and I have a feeling the soundtrack is going to sell really well.
Newcomer Walsh-Peelo makes a fantastic debut here. I have a feeling he was cast for musical ability as much as acting, but he has an open, expressive face that works well for such a sensitive character. Boynton is lovely as Raphina, who could have been a cliched manic pixie dream girl type if Boynton hadn’t played such a fine balance of strength and vulnerability. She exists in part to inspire Conor, it’s true, but she has her own complicated interior life and goals and heartbreaks. Jack Reynor nearly runs away with the movie, though, as Conor’s older brother, Brendan, a college dropout who serves as his musical mentor, convincing him to write original songs, helping him write his first lyrics, and lending him albums. GeekTyrant readers will probably recognize him from Transformers: Age of Extinction, and for awhile he was rumored to be in the running for every young action role out there (including The Force Awakens), but here he is like a bearded Irish Chris Pratt, with just a tinge of tragedy. He’s funny, but he also supplies a lot of the film’s heart.
Against the backdrop of Ireland’s major recession in the ‘80s, Sing Street makes a big deal of the concept of “Happy-Sad,” although none of the characters can really explain it in words — when Conor asks about it, Brendan hands him a record by The Cure. Among the troubles the young characters have dealt with in their families are: broken homes, alcoholism, sexual abuse, physical abuse, mental illness, drug abuse, and poverty. But they’re young and alive and the world is changing all around them, and maybe they can build something new out of it. It's how you felt when you were growing out of childhood and seeing the world as it is and as it could be. The ending is so all-out joyous and hopeful that it just about knocked me out. Looking back, the path was laid out neatly for me to follow, but I genuinely didn’t expect it until it happened.
The Weinstein Company bought the U.S. rights to Sing Street during the Cannes Film Festival, so it is likely to come to a theater (or streaming service) near you. If it does, you should check it out. I know I'm already ready to watch it again.