Sing Street (available free with ads on Vudu) tells the story of Dublin teenager Colin (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) as he forms a band on a whim to impress a girl, Raphina (Lucy Boynton). It’s full of all the teen angst and charm and awkwardness and sweetness that we’ve come to expect from this kind of movie. And you know what? The familiarity and general predictability don’t really detract from Sing Street.
Comfort in the familiar
Part of the appeal to Sing Street is how easily so many viewers can see themselves in one or more of the characters. Everyone remembers their teenage years, where getting the cute guy or girl to notice you was an all-consuming endeavor. So what if you backed yourself into a corner to form a band because you told your new crush you were in a band? It’s a classic movie trope, taking a familiar situation and taking it right to the brink of realistic believability.
It’s this balancing act of toeing the line of over the top where Sing Street finds much of its success. Movies are a form of escapism, but if it’s a “real life” story, it’s hard to take the ideas too far and still be successful. Writer-director John Carney finds a near-perfect balance with this aspect of his film. Yes, Conor forms the band quickly and easily, but the kids aren’t these out of nowhere musical geniuses. They have enough talent to be good, but they’re not immediate rock star gods.
This is taken a step further with the group’s first music video. They have an easy time of planning and filming it, much easier than they should have. But the end result still shows plenty of cracks and tokens marking young inexperience. It’s just another way for the audience to easily access these characters and their story.
Emotional but still fun
Sing Street’s balancing act continues with the counteracting fun of the band with the darker emotional themes at play. Conor’s home life is no picnic, with parents on the verge of separating while struggling financially. Having been forced to switch schools due to these financial problems, Conor struggles to adjust as the new kid at school. But the movie never veers too far in that direction, able to rely on Conor’s new friendships and the music to pull him – and the audience – back up above the waves.
But even with the emotional weight, Sing Street never loses sight of the fun that music can provide. Various band scenes would take several of the tops spots on a “best of” list of scenes. Whenever the band is playing, they either forget about their other problems or use those issues as motivation to create. And the result is simple: fun. They’re truly enjoying themselves and the audience truly enjoys watching them. And sometimes being able to have a little fun is all you need.
A hit song never hurts
To really be a long-lasting success, a movie like Sing Street needs a signature song and musical moment. And it has that in spades with its “Drive It Like You Stole It” sequence. The 2017 Oscars had a pretty decent lineup of Best Original Song nominees, but “Drive It Like You Stole It” probably should have snuck in with a nomination, if not the win. But nonetheless, the music video scene is the movie’s lasting iconic moment. It’s dope, it’s a bop, it slaps, whatever you want to say about it, it applies (as long as it’s good and positive).