Heart warming tale of trying to find escapism, healing and maybe even a bit of love, through the medium of music in recession gripped Dublin in the mid 1980’s. At the center of the tale is Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) who’s parents are struggling financially and emotionally so he seeks solace from the turmoil of his home life in music and his relationship with his music buff brother Brendan (Jack Reynor). As part of the family cost cutting his parents decide to send Conor to a public, Christian Brothers, school in the coming year (but can still afford alcohol and cigarettes, an all too true aspect of the vast majority of Irish parental prioritisation) This is a shock to his system as his first day is filled with playground fights, an encounter with a bully, hurled rodents and a run in with the authoritarian Brother Baxter (Don Wycherley) for his non conformance to the schools strict, black shoe policy. He finds a kindred spirit in equally ostracised pupil Darren (Ben Carolan) and it is during one of their conversations outside the school that he spots Raphina (Lucy Boynton) loitering nearby so, after mustering the courage to speak with her he finds out she is a model when, in a flash of inspiration he asks if she’d like to star in one of his bands videos, gets a phone number and the wheels are thus set in motion.

Darren and Conor put together a band, which to begin with are terrible but with some guidance from Brendan, who full encourages Conor to pursue his dream in a way he gave up upon years before, things start to take shape and it is this brotherly relationship that is the real heart of the movie. Brendan does not want his younger sibling to follow down the same path, making the same mistakes he did and acts as the real father figure for Conor fully immersing himself as a musical tutor of sorts. The fact that he is stoned most of the time only adds additional comedy to some of their conversations. So with a new found confidence Conor starts to find himself experimenting with different looks as the sound of the band changes depending on which albums Brendan has given him to listen to week on week.

The music used and original songs (written by director John Carney along with Gary Clark of 1980’s band Danny Wilson) are clever takes on the music of the era and the first ‘video’ the band shoot is a hilarious take on something that reminded me of an early Alphaville video. The tongue in cheek references to pop culture and fashion at the time and the mannerisms and language throughout were spot on. Perhaps it was the fact that I lived through the era, spent twelve years in that uniform and spent many, many hours in the places and locations that popped up in the film that made the movie resonate with me more than it would most but I though this was a great throwback to a socially dark period in Irish history.

While lacking the emotion and refined musical qualities of Once and perhaps a little similar in parts to the ideals of The Commitments, Sing Street more than makes up for it with it’s comic story and it’s a much more infectious movie which will keep you smiling throughout. If you are a child of this era and, in particular if you lived in Dublin in the mid 1980 then this movie will speak to you. If not, you still have a great coming of age Irish movie which will have you laughing aloud.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6.5 out of 10