Sorry, Don Corleone, but it’s true. And you know what? It destroys Casablanca, too. And Ben-Hur. Citizen Kane? Fuck, Citizen Kane. Sing Street is here, and all these movies mean NOTHING to me.
The year is 1985 in South Dublin, Ireland. Conor, a 15-year-old student, learns that his parents’ finances have changed and in order to save money, he’s being transferred to a free public school. The change comes with the usual growing pains: an asshole school principal, an aggressive school bully, and some legit fish-out-of-water vibes. He meets an aspiring model, Raphina, and tells her that his band (the one he didn’t start yet) needs a model to star in their next music video. She agrees, and he rushes off to start a tale filled with songwriting, friendship, identity forming, and of course, growing up. But this description doesn’t do the movie nearly any justice. Sing Street manages to avoid almost every trope in the coming-of-age genre while maintaining a sense of realism throughout, thanks to the sly script and direction by writer/director John Carney (Once, Begin Again).
As the film progresses, the band encapsulates what it’s like to be young, crushing hard, and grasping onto music like it’s your life preserver. As his parents’ relationship gets messier and eventually falls apart, Conor grows closer to Raphina, only to find out she has an on-again, off-again fling with a much older guy. But his feelings about the girl propel his songwriting and his band (called Sing Street), as they slowly begin to gain a footing in their school and community. All the while, his older brother, Brenden, teaches him about music history and shows him the ropes of how to look cool and develop his own style.
Other things happen too AND IT’S THE GREATEST MOVIE ON EARTH RIGHT NOW.
So yeah. This is a total non-fangirl review. Just very hardcore, serious journalism here, folks.
The movie’s best scene revolves around the band’s best track, “Drive It Like You Stole It.” (In fact, it’s a shock and a major snub that it didn’t receive a nomination for Best Original Song this year. A travesty, really.) As Sing Street records a video for the track, an homage to the 50’s style of Back to the Future, Conor imagines his parents coming to see him play, Raphina walking through the packed crowd, and everyone breaking out into an organized dance worthy of anything you would’ve seen on MTV in that era. The scene is brightly lit with styled costume design and choreography, as Sing Street melts your face, making you want to break out of the confines of your shitty desk job, and burst into your own song and dance.
If I don’t Eternal Sunshine this song out of my head soon, I’m going to dance so hard that I’ll spontaneously combust just like people in the Buffy musical. It’s that major.
Thematic to all of Carney’s films, Sing Street conveys the true power of music: how it helps us grow, how it defines our lives, how oftentimes, it speaks for us. Music also defines the time; in Sing Street’s case, the 80’s is almost its own character in the film, and the style and non-original music used is just as important as everything else, helping to frame the movie into the context of history, both musically and otherwise.
The Conor we leave isn’t the same kid we met at the beginning. Through music, he gains confidence and experience, as he follows his dreams, ignites his passion, and ultimately, learns about life itself. Grade: A
