Delayed Reaction: Sing Street

Pitch: An Irish boy in the '80s forms a band in order to impress a girl and accidentally stumbles onto his dream.

If you wanted to say that John Carney keeps making the same movie over and over, I couldn't disagree with you. But, when they are movies like Once, Begin Again, and now Sing Street, I can't say that's a bad thing. This is a love letter to the '80s British music scene and to young love. The original music is fantastic. It's fun to see how Carney's films have grown as he gets more experience and actual budgets.

This is a romantic movie in any sense of the word. While I take the adult stance of saying "foolish kids" at the ending, I also can't help but be invigorated by it. I love the way the band comes together. It's all done with a shorthand. We don't really have to know the other kids in the band because we already know them from a dozen other films.

Now that I'm thinking about it, the best comparison for this isn't another one of Carney's films. It's Son of Rambow. The setting, the time period, the tone, the innocence. They are almost identical once you swap out music for film. It's a shame more filmmakers can't capture what it's like to be young like Carney can.

Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend