Hello!
Today I’d like to introduce a film by John Carney, the director best known for Begin Again!
http://www.picturesofcure.com/tag/bande-originale/
The year is 1985, in an inner-city district on the south side of Dublin. The Lalor family, who live there, have been driven into hard times after the recession cost the father, Robert, an architect, his job. Robert and his wife Penny fight constantly and are even considering a separation, and Robert is drinking heavily and smoking more and more. At a family meeting one day, Robert tells his youngest son, our protagonist Conor, that to save on school fees he is to move from his private school to a free state school. Robert says that Synge Street, the school he is moving to, has a good reputation — but Conor’s older brother Brendan mocks the state of their broken family and Conor’s transfer for all he is worth. As if to escape all of it, Brendan and Conor throw themselves into London pop music.
Synge Street is run by a Catholic religious order called the Christian Brothers, and the culture there was different from the Jesuit-run school Conor had come from. On his first day the headmaster, Brother Baxter, pulls him up for the brown shoes that break the uniform rules, and Barry, the school bully, marks him out. After a start as bad as that, the only one who speaks to Conor is Darren, the self-appointed “school consultant”, and the two of them become friends. As they are leaving for the day, Conor notices Raphina, the young model who is the heroine of the film, standing in the doorway of a flat directly opposite the school, and falls for her at first sight. To get her attention, Conor asks whether she would appear in a music video for a band he has not even formed, and comes away with Raphina’s phone number. One thing leads to another, Darren takes on the management side, and he introduces Conor to Eamon, a friend who can play just about any instrument.
— Wikipedia
Home gets uncomfortable, so he falls for London pop music, then puts a band together to win over the girl he likes — that coming-of-age movie template is the first thing to love here lol
He’s the protagonist, and it isn’t a case of actors in their twenties playing schoolkids — the actors really are that age, so it feels real~
Once the band is together they discover fashion, like in the image above, and head into school as a group!
Doesn’t this sort of thing take you right back?? lol
It’s a film about forming a band, so a lot of songs play through it.
They’re all good, but “Drive It Like You Stole It” in particular is the best!
The video above is that song. It’s catchy and easy to move to, sure, but the way it gets used in the film is downright unfair!
The atmosphere of it being a bit like the first Back to the Future is lovely too.
The protagonist’s brother is deep into music as well, but from beginning to end he never really stands on his own two feet — he just ends up cheering his little brother on, is how it felt.
Even so, he’s happier about his brother’s success than anyone, and it works as a contrast too — the brother who gets to leave, and the brother who never managed it. I think it’s an important part.
Highly recommended for anyone who feels like remembering what being young was like~
On July 24, 202…