Sing Street (2016)

When I learned that this was an Irish movie about amateur music, I figured my mom would love it, as she loved Once and The Commitments. The former didn't do much for me; the latter I liked but not as much as she did. Perhaps I should have waited and watched SS with her, but I felt like streaming something popular and less than two hours long.

In the mid-'80s, when music videos are big and the economy of Dublin isn't, 15-year-old Conor gets transferred to a cheaper school, Synge Street CBS, with plenty of bad boys (most notably physical bully Barry) and a harsh principal, Brother Baxter. He copes by assembling a rock band of tolerable students with various skill levels, making himself the lead singer and secondary guitarist. This offers the bonus of drawing the interest of a 16-year-old aspiring model, Raphina, who becomes the highlight of their homemade videos and, of course, Conor's love interest, however shakily.

School is not the only cause of stress in Conor's life. From the beginning, we see that his parents argue a lot. They'd get a no-fault divorce if that were an option in Ireland at the time. And it's easy to think that they don't give much thought to their kids.

Conor's closest sibling is his older brother, Brendan, a burned-out stoner who nevertheless foments Conor's taste for music and provides worthy insights. Their sister, Ann, does not contribute to the plot but serves as a foil with her serious study toward being an architect.

Apart from Conor, the most interesting band member is Eamon, who owns and can play a ridiculous number of interests, keeps rabbits, and retains a strange sangfroid. We don't know a whole lot about the other members, mainly that one was approached simply for being Black (how fortunate that he fits the stereotype of Blacks playing an instrument) and the rest have a lot to learn.

Raphina has possibly the roughest life of the bunch. With that in mind, it's no surprise that she's not exactly reliable as a girlfriend or a model. All the same, she shows a maturity that I don't expect of her age. I can see why Conor reacts as he does to her.

So how about the music? It takes inspiration from the Cure, Duran Duran, Hall & Oates, and Joe Jackson among others. Fortunately, I'm fond of '80s music in general. The results are impressive for a teen band; if they only had more professional production values, they could have multiple hits.

Of course, many contemporary artists pushed a rather androgynous image. This does not sit well with the head of a school whose motto translates to "Be manly." I also suspect that Conor's lack of traditional manliness made him Barry's target in the first place. Yet Barry comes to respect the glamour of rock and, I'd say, becomes more likable and more sympathetic than Baxter.

As a comedy-drama, SS is pretty good. As a musical, it approaches greatness in my book.