If these clips seem familiar to you, it's probably because you’re most familiar with the director John Carney who directed the Oscar winning film turned stage musical Once. Carney’s style is nothing if not straightforward about the emotional truth of his characters, who often are looking to break out of their current circumstances. Such is the story of young Cosmo in ‘Sing Street’. A lower middle class kid in 80’s Ireland with an eroding home life, fitting in at a new school in a poorer neighborhood. Unlike many movies of this ilk, this kid does not lack confidence, or dreams for that matter. Imbued with that confidence he approaches an attractive young woman who claims to be a model. To impress her he claims he’s in a band and that she should be in their video.
Then he puts it all together. Gathering influence from Top of the Pops, with valuable commentary from his older brother, he patches together some exemplary tunes of the time. I’ve already told you more than you need to know about the plot here. This film leads with heart and the spirit of inspiration, and its infectious. Really, at its core this film is about the experience you can yield when image matches with music. And it succeeds wildly.
Sing Street opens today, Friday April 15th.
