Sing Street

“Rock 'n' roll is a risk. You risk being ridiculed.”

(Brendan, Sing Street)

In a previous blog I wrote about my musical awakening coming later than most, at university as opposed to school. How I wished Morrissey and Cocker were there in adolescence, spirit guides to carry me through those turbulent days. It would have been succour to come back from nightclubs, empty-kissed once more and play ‘How Soon is Now.’ It would have been comforting to have ‘Misshapes’ tell me that my time would come. Music then is a salvation, a life raft to survive life’s choppy waters. But it so much more: it is the rudder steering you towards unknown lands, to people and experiences you’ve hitherto encountered. In listening to The Smiths I discovered the literature of the Kitchen Sink; Cocker made me pick up Educating Rita; Alex Turner introduced me to John Cooper Clarke. In meeting these friends I found others and my life is all the better for it.

Where was the spindly songsmith when I needed him.

John Carney, the writer and director of Sing Street, is enthral to rock 'n’ roll. He was a bassist in a mildly successful band and directed music videos early on his career. His past three films have all used songs as a part of their narrative. Once, that has since been translated into a smash-hit musical, follows the burgeoning relationship between an Irish busker and Czech single mum. Its success meant Carney could attract Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley to the lead roles of faded record producer and aspiring singer respectively. Begin Again received good reviews but Carney recently expressed reservations about it’s quality, blaming Keira Knightley for being too guarded with her performance. He has subsequently apologised for these comments, admitting that he was circumventing personal failings by blaming her. Perhaps aware that the bigger budget of a New York setting with Hollywood actors was not for him, Carney has returned to Dublin with Sing Street, a film that combines the indie of his first film with the sheen of his second.

Something tells me that Knightley isn't going to be to Carney what Depp is for Burton.

Sing Street is a film about escape. The Lalor family that our protagonist Conor belongs to is in ruins. His parents marriage is on the rock, so too their personal finances. With the Celtic Tiger yet to roar, this is a depressed Ireland where families must adopt their own austerity budget or face sinking into depression. A victim of the cuts is Conor, who is 'downgraded' from private school to Catholic state school. Fans of The Inbetweeners will recognise how difficult the early transition is for a private schoolboy attending a comprehensive, so it proves for Conor. He longs to escape the bullying and torment of the school's iron rule.

Step forward Conor’s brother, Brendan. Brendan (Jack Raynor) is the living, breathing embodiment of rock n’ roll. He has the tall, lumbering presence, the long hair, the cut jeans, a disdain for bullshit and a willingness to stand up to their domineering father. The only thing stopping this great oak from being an axe man in a band is his predilection for hash, which fells him at every turn. Aware his brother needs saving, he takes it upon himself to be the High Priest of Rock N Roll, delivering sermons on Duran Duran’s musicianship and video artistry whilst the two watch Top of The Pops. Enraptured by his brother’s passion, Conor accepts the word and internally agrees to join the flock. On leaving school one day he sees a girl on an opposite stairwell. He enquires to a friend about her backstory and is told that she’s a closed book and won’t open for the lads of this school. Conor still carrying the confidence of private education saunters over and uncovers that she’s a model with aspirations to go to London. With all the blarney of the Irish, he manages to persuade her to be in his music video – the problem? he doesn’t have a band, a song or a camera to create said video. Conor’s response: recruit a group of soldiers to spearhead a musical assault on Raphina’s fortified heart.

Where there's a song there's a girl.

People familiar with HBO’s Flight of the Concords will find much to enjoy about the band’s approach to video production. They do not have the finances to create the visual high gloss of Rio, but they do have the fearless imagination of children, which allows them to shine against the shit of their dreary locations. Carney’s direction of these pop videos is so charming and could only be done by someone who knows the conventions of them. The reason these videos are so perfect is because Carney revels in the imperfection: the band are shown knocking into mic stands, putting them too far away, fighting over them - all mistakes people would make if they were recording for the first time. Despite the humour inherent in this amateurism, the song sounds great with the band channeling Siouxsie & The Banshees and Dead or Alive to exhilarating effect.

I guess what I’m saying is however ridiculous Conor’s band Sing Street look, he never ridicules them. They are heroes because they refuse to conform. When the Catholic brother throws the book at Conor’s appearance, he throws it back; he will not be kowtowed. In fact, a delightful motif that runs throughout the film is how Conor’s musical influences inspires his look. When he watches Spandeau Ballet on Top of the Pops, he comes in the next day with an impossible scarf, stretching tip to toe. On being introduced by his brother to The Cure, it isn’t long before Conor's conventional mop resembles the singer's explosion in a hair factory. All these little details are so wonderfully observed and show a love that isn’t always evident in filmmaking.

The band inspired by The Cure

By the end of the film I was left feeling quite overwhelmed by the care and attention that had gone into the story. I’ve since learnt the last song of the film isn’t a Carney one (he, along with collaborators, wrote all of the fictional band’s music); it's an Adam Levine one. Maroon 5 singer Levine had been in Carney’s last film, Begin Again, who obviously saw something in him I've been unable to. Maroon 5 have always seemed too impossibly attractive to really care about music – more interested in the sound of cash registers than their own output. Here though in the closing scene of the film, Carney entrusts a multi-millionaire with the closing notes on a small, independent film. What Levine delivers is tender, sweet and remarkably, for a man who has moves like Jagger, understated. It has the momentum of ‘Born to Run’ without the bombast, encapsulating the theme of escape with the rising refrain of ‘You’re never going to go, if you don’t go now.’ Alongside the pictures, the whole thing is just perfect.

As the credits came up I sensed that everyone around me was as moved. I for one tried to stem the flow of tears, but in the face of beauty resistance is futile- just let the rain fall. What a lovely film. 

Sing Street is still available in some cinemas.