Absolute joy.
I couldn't believe how happy I was in the whole duration of Sing Street. I already was aware that this movie would be just my cup of tea. I never imagined, however, how happy it would make me feel. And since from the first scene.
It is so unbelievably good, in a non pretentious and quiet manner, in the usual way of John Carney. I'm annoyed by his statement about Keira Knightley, who is the soul of Begin Again, but I tell myself a lesson given by Neil Gaiman: the person is not the art. It is sad to see someone that reaches our soul with its art being such a jerk though.
Once was my first Carney's flick, and I love it so much, it is so heartfelt, real, close to the heart - and filmed on Dublin <3 It was with Once that I realized how a good sound design is fundamental to tell a good story. On the Edge and Begin Again are other love given to me by Carney. And now Sing Street is a part of this great troupe.
All the musical influences in the movie were my own, bands and songs that are still a lovely part of my life. I had a smile on my face that only faded on the more sad scenes. It is one of the heaviest Carney's movies, along with On the Edge. What the characters go through is very similar to the life of those living in small cities without much access to anything (as Brasilia on the '80s).
I remember watching the video clips with the same awe as Conor's. The way he repeats his brother's views on Duran Duran (a view probably borrowed from someone else) is so familiar, I've heard it from many people at the time I was 15, it was impossible not to relate to the story and the people on it. This movie has it all: the perfect dose of exaggeration, travesty, comedy, sobriety, friendship, feelings, pain, love... A perfect mix.
The scene where the three siblings dance while their parents are arguing loudly on the hall is sad, beautiful, heartfelt, endearing... it broke my heart in a million pieces. Impossible not to remember my own youth, despite the different circumstances. It was a great journey through time, with amazing people, songs, memories, and the realization that life is pretty good after all.
The last but not least: a movie about the '80 opening with a Motorhead song :) I was jumping on the couch for sure.
PS: Sing Street brought me the a joy of going back to my teen years, specially when I was 16, one very similar (not so intense) to what I found a couple years ago with Eleanor & Park, a book by Rainbow Rowell. The two main characters are 16 in 1986, the same as me. All the references - comics, songs, bands - are so mine, it was such a journey. The bit about The Prefab Sprout's T-shirt made me yell in pleasant surprise. The story here is heartbreaking, Eleanor felt so much an alien as I did - a trully weird kid, living a life so detached from the others at the school. Even so, in that time I met the best friends in the whole world, that accepted me (and still do) as weird as I am till this day - they're my Park, sweet, very special, caring and amazingly crazy themselves.
PPS: About the Gaiman's take on Lou Reed, I'd probably posted this bit here already, but it is worthy a reprise. This dialogue is so F* good:
I couldn't believe how happy I was in the whole duration of Sing Street. I already was aware that this movie would be just my cup of tea. I never imagined, however, how happy it would make me feel. And since from the first scene.It is so unbelievably good, in a non pretentious and quiet manner, in the usual way of John Carney. I'm annoyed by his statement about Keira Knightley, who is the soul of Begin Again, but I tell myself a lesson given by Neil Gaiman: the person is not the art. It is sad to see someone that reaches our soul with its art being such a jerk though.
Once was my first Carney's flick, and I love it so much, it is so heartfelt, real, close to the heart - and filmed on Dublin <3 It was with Once that I realized how a good sound design is fundamental to tell a good story. On the Edge and Begin Again are other love given to me by Carney. And now Sing Street is a part of this great troupe.
All the musical influences in the movie were my own, bands and songs that are still a lovely part of my life. I had a smile on my face that only faded on the more sad scenes. It is one of the heaviest Carney's movies, along with On the Edge. What the characters go through is very similar to the life of those living in small cities without much access to anything (as Brasilia on the '80s).
I remember watching the video clips with the same awe as Conor's. The way he repeats his brother's views on Duran Duran (a view probably borrowed from someone else) is so familiar, I've heard it from many people at the time I was 15, it was impossible not to relate to the story and the people on it. This movie has it all: the perfect dose of exaggeration, travesty, comedy, sobriety, friendship, feelings, pain, love... A perfect mix.The scene where the three siblings dance while their parents are arguing loudly on the hall is sad, beautiful, heartfelt, endearing... it broke my heart in a million pieces. Impossible not to remember my own youth, despite the different circumstances. It was a great journey through time, with amazing people, songs, memories, and the realization that life is pretty good after all.
The last but not least: a movie about the '80 opening with a Motorhead song :) I was jumping on the couch for sure.
 |
| Sing Street. Directed and written by John Carney, from the story by Simon Carmody. Cast: Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Kelly Thorton, Jack Reynor. Ireland/UK/ USA, 2016, Dolby Digital, Color, 106 min. |
PS: Sing Street brought me the a joy of going back to my teen years, specially when I was 16, one very similar (not so intense) to what I found a couple years ago with Eleanor & Park, a book by Rainbow Rowell. The two main characters are 16 in 1986, the same as me. All the references - comics, songs, bands - are so mine, it was such a journey. The bit about The Prefab Sprout's T-shirt made me yell in pleasant surprise. The story here is heartbreaking, Eleanor felt so much an alien as I did - a trully weird kid, living a life so detached from the others at the school. Even so, in that time I met the best friends in the whole world, that accepted me (and still do) as weird as I am till this day - they're my Park, sweet, very special, caring and amazingly crazy themselves.
"I named my daughter Holly after Warhol superstar Holly Woodlawn, who I'd discovered in Walk on the Wild Side. When Holly was 19, I made her a playlist of more songs she had loved as a small girl, the ones she'd remembered and the ones she'd forgotten, which led to our having the Conversation. I dragged songs from her childhood over to the playlist – Nothing Compares 2 U and I Don't Like Mondays and These Foolish Things, and then came Walk on the Wild Side. "You named me from this song, didn't you?" said Holly as the first bass notes sang. "Yup," I said. Reed started singing.
Holly listened to the first verse, and for the first time, actually heard the words. "Shaved her legs and then he was a she …? He?"
"That's right," I said, and bit the bullet. We were having the Conversation. "You were named after a drag queen in a Lou Reed song." She grinned like a light going on. "Oh Dad. I do love you," she said. Then she wrote what I'd said down on the back of an envelope, in case she forgot it. I'm not sure that I'd ever expected the Conversation to go quite like that."
So good.
No comments:
Post a Comment