Film: Sing Street

Ah, but I've missed just sitting in the car and whizzing down to the local cinema. Quick and easy.. I was delighted when Sing Street came out top of my film list for today, and that was exactly what I could do. With it being set in Dublin - and possibly the biggest Irish release for a while to come - I also felt an obligation to see it. And I booked - that works out cheaper.

A beautiful sunny day, and little traffic - I was in a good mood as I got home, especially realising that I didn't have to rush, for once! I also had time to eat beforehand, for once, and left a little late - but the trailers were still on when I arrived. The films being advertised looked entertaining - but I don't get to the cinema that often these days, and they didn't look like they'd rate very highly on IMDB, so I'm unlikely to get around to them.. Well, that's the system I use, and it works for me.

And today it worked very well indeed. This is the third film by John Carney, and you can really see a theme developing, of underdogs in music. Now, you might say he's flogging the idea to death - but as someone remarked in a review I read today, although he may make the same type of film over and over, he does it really well.

And the three films do have their differences. Once tells the poignant tale of a Dublin busker that falls in love with an immigrant, who makes beautiful music with him as he tries to get into the music business. Begin Again, in contrast, pairs a disgraced music industry executive with an up-and-coming singer-songwriter. In Sing Street, we're back in Dublin, with a schoolboy trying to impress this cool local girl by telling her he's in a band.. so then he has to form a band. (Carney describes this as wish fulfilment - getting the girl and forming a band, the teenage dream.)

Maria Doyle Kennedy shows up as his mother, Aiden Gillen as his father, Jack Reynor as his big brother (and musical guru), Don Wycherley as the psychotic principal of the school he's moved to when his parents can no longer afford the fees for his regular school. Oh yes, the school - people who know Dublin might guess where he ends up. Because there is actually a very famous boys' school in Dublin, called Synge Street, run by the Christian Brothers. The film's title comes from the band that he forms - ironically named after the school.

Ah, this is an absolute gem of a film. So many films promise but don't deliver - this, however, delivers more than you'd have a right to expect. Never twee, never clichéd - it's set about 10 years before I moved to Dublin, but oh my, I recognised it so well! The houses, the weather, the people.. some reminded me so much of specific people I knew. Took me right back, and I shed a tear or three..

And the constant talk of emigration - we see a news report on it, we see the ferries packed with Irish people heading for the bright lights of London, in the days before Ryanair, when airfares were prohibitive. The constant talk of London, of how that was the only hope of advancement. Someone in the audience sniggered - but hey, this is no joke! Years later, I came because I wanted to, but back in the day, London was literally the destiny of any Irish person with ambition but no connections. Close enough that you could get there without flying, English-speaking, and immune to the recession that was crippling Ireland - also to the nepotism of small-town Ireland. The expectation of a schoolkid in Ireland in the 80s was that you'd be emigrating at some point - it was just a question of where, and when.

But hey, this film is all about the music. And the music this band is principally inspired by is Duran Duran, which makes for a rather good soundtrack. Oh wow, this is so 80s! And as well as the music and the fashion, it has a peculiarly 80s optimism to it - a more feelgood movie would be hard to find. It is so damn good.. and I am so glad I saw it. Highly, highly recommended.

For tomorrow, I nabbed a cheap ticket to a piano concert at Wigmore Hall. On Wednesday, I'm back with the Man with the Hat, who's taking London for Less than a Tenner to the (not-so) Top Secret Comedy Club. Now, I've only been there once before, and had a bad experience - but that was just the line-up on the night, and I have higher hopes for this. I know some people are going to be interested in my reaction. So shall I!

On Thursday, I'm off to what should be an excellent night with the Crick Crack Club - Trickster, at Rich Mix, stars no fewer than three storytellers, at least two of whom I know to be excellent: Tuup and Clare Muireann Murphy. On Friday, I'm (so far, unless I get a better offer) headed back with the CLOGgies, finally, for a Royal Parks & Palaces Evening Walk. I did enjoy that group, the one time I was with them - they just usually clash with other stuff! And on Saturday, I'm headed with the London European Club to an exhibition on Sicily: Culture and Conquest, at the British Museum. I know Sicily has a fascinating history, so I'll be interested in this.