Director John Carney (Once, Begin Again) brings us yet another musically-rich and heartfelt drama comedy. With SING STREET, Carney opens it up and doesn't just focus on the protagonists, but on the ensemble. We are introduced to the main characters but are also given plenty to love with the supporting cast along with the wonderful soundtrack that includes original music as well as 80's classics.
The story immediately takes off the moment our main character Conor (wonderfully played by Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) takes action and forms a band in order to impress Raphina (Lucy Boynton). He gathers a crew of classmates and forms a band just so he can shoot a music video that will feature Raphina. What follows is a great look deep into the eyes of teenage love as well as the soul of 80's New Wave.
In his previous works, Carney has focused his stories and detail on two main characters. In Sing Street, however, Carney opens it up and gives every other character in the movie time to shine and make you feel something for them. As much as I loved the characters of Conor and Raphina, the real MVP here is the character of Conor's brother Brendan (brilliantly played by Jack Reynor) who stole the show, in my opinion. Brendan is the one to truly guides Conor's journey throughout starting with him introducing his younger brother to Duran Duran. Reynor gives such an impressive performance that the one time I got teary-eyed, was in one particular scene where his character unleashes his true feelings.
I've talked about the characters portrayed by actors, but the one main character in this is the awesome soundtrack. If you are a fan of 80's music, ie The Cure, Joy Division, Duran Duran, etc., then you'll surely love not only the featured songs, but the original songs performed by Conor's fictional band "Sing Street" as well. The music in this film takes the great vibes you as the viewers are already feeling and multiplies those feelings exponentially.
In a year (2016) saturated with some many big-budget disappointments and mediocrity, Sing Street came along and renewed my faith in filmmaking. It lets me know that there are filmmakers out there that still care about story-structure and character development. I'll go on record right now that as of this moment in time (September 2016), Sing Street is my favorite movie of 2016. I understand that the year is far from over and we have strong contenders coming up, but I'm almost certain Sing Street will remain on top.
I absolutely loved this film and I give it my highest recommendation. Do not miss it.
