Movie Review: "Sing Street" is an 80s Music Lover's Dream
E.
With all the noise on the internet and in the mainstream media, it's not often that something goes under the radar. It's even more radical to stumble upon something so good, so perfect and lovely that you feel like you owe it to humanity to share it. But that's exactly how I feel about "Sing Street," a newly released movie about a 15-year-old boy growing up in Dublin in 1985 who starts a band to impress a girl.
I'd heard NOTHING about this movie. I think I'd seen the poster, which looked sort of schmaltzy to me (although now I get the overt reference to 80s graphics), and was like, "Yeah, I'll wait for Netflix." But last night, as I scanned the movie listings for a not-lame family-ish flick to see, I happened upon the trailer for "Sing Street." I'll be honest: it barely looked better than meh but it was about kids in a band in the 80s and it was PG-13, so we took our 11-year-old and 14-year-old. Background: the little one has been playing bass since she was 7 and both girls have shockingly good taste for their ages. (Okay, I have to take a little credit for that. But I digress...) Like many kids in their generation, they are intrigued by the 80s and 90s, so it seemed like a good fit.
Literally, from the opening frames, we were hooked. The 1980s music, fashion, props and intangible feeling was spot-on. My husband and I kept looking at each other, like, "Do you remember that? Oh my god, I had that hat!" or "I LOVED that song!" Even though I'd grown up in California and Europe in the 80s (another story for another day), the feelings were the same. I recognized the look and feel of the time period, the desire of the characters to be a part of the musical movement of the New Romantics, New Wave, American and UK punk. And then I'd look at my girls, who were spellbound and totally in love with the story, with the lead character, with ALL OF IT. At the very end, NO ONE in the theater moved. The house lights went on and still no one moved. None of us wanted to leave.
That's all I'm gonna say. So much for a "real" movie review, but I don't wanna ruin the fun of discovering the only non-shite indie movie out there right now. Do yourself a favor and buy a ticket, bring a friend, and go get you some "rabbit time." (You'll get the reference, trust me.)
And then, after you've seen it, you can check these links:
Six Reasons Why We Love Sing Street
Photos via © 2015 The Weinstein Company. All Rights Reserved.