Sing Street

Whether it was through books, music, movies, or even video games; we all had that one outlet we relied upon to help get us through the formative years of our adolescence. If we were experiencing issues at home, problems with a bully, or were simply fawning over a cute girl or boy, we would always turn to that one special coping mechanism that spoke to us the most. And finding that mechanism was key mainly because when you’re a teenager, you’re in the most impressionable years of your life, and the last thing you needed was to succumb to the multitude of negative influences that were out there simply to harm you (man that was dark). This was especially true if you just so happened to be one of those kids who stuck out like a sore thumb; kind of like a Black kid growing up in the country where raising a quality show pig was put on the same level as being a part of the National Honor Society. But moving on…

Well in Sing Street, writer and director John Carney (Once, Begin Again) takes us back to that time in our lives as he tackles every one of these issues through the bright eyes of 15 year old Cosmo. We first see Cosmo sitting on his bed strumming his guitar to the background noise of his parents fighting as he converts their hateful words towards one another into lyrics of his own. He soon finds out that because the economic crisis Ireland is experiencing in the mid 80’s has found its way to the doorstep of his household, he now has to be pulled out of the private school he’s attending and must go to a much rougher public school that’s run by a strict and unforgiving headmaster.

And from the very second he steps on the campus’s grounds, he immediately enters survival mode as he sees barbarians fighting and spitting on one another; basically the perfect intro into his new environment. It isn’t long before he himself is having to avoid bullying as he clearly stands out as being one the few kids who’s actually smart and somewhat educated. Thankfully for him though, he also finds his necessary outlet on his first day of school in the form of Raphina. Raphina is an older girl who has aspirations of being a model and she has made it abundantly clear to any high school boy that approaches her that she is out of their league. Cosmo however is undeterred by this and decides to approach her anyway as he is immediately love-struck from the moment he lays eyes on her. He realizes though that he needs some sort of an angle so he lies to her and tells her that he’s in a band. And as is typically the case when a girl finds out that a dude is in a band, her interest is automatically piqued.

So he invites her to be in one of their videos and promises to call her with the details. But now he finds himself in a rush to round up a collection of friends who actually have some semblance of musical talent so that he can to put together a band for this potentially match making video. He’s eventually successful in doing so and the music they make actually turns out to be pretty good. Now keep in mind that this was during the time when MTV was first starting up and the idea of a music video was still considered to be somewhat revolutionary. So Cosmo and his friends are now exposed to a world of music they wouldn’t normally have access to and they and their music are of course heavily influenced by it. Some of the film’s funniest moments come from when the kids shows up to school dressed like the bands (Duran Duran or The Cure) they saw in a cool video the night before. And in case you were wondering, yes they went all out; makeup and all.

I personally was able to identify with this as there were quite a few moments in my life when I did the same thing. Like the time I showed up to my Valentine’s Day dance dressed like Bobby Brown from the Don’t Be Cruel album; or the time I started wearing multicolored overalls backwards because I saw Kriss Kross do it in a video. Trust me when I say the list goes on and on but in the interest of ever getting laid again, I think I’ll stop there.

The point is, in the process of forming a band and making new wave music, the kids all found an escape from their depressing surroundings and at the same time also found a new lease on life. They once again believed that anything was possible as they immersed themselves in a world of music, videos, and fashion. And I truly believe that this is something that can happen with each and every one of us if we just find the right outlet. By the way, the videos they produce make you long for the days of cheesy 80’s electronic rock and all that came with it; including the big hair and random semi-racist images.

This film is all at once funny, fun, depressing, and inspirational and it was one of the best times I’ve had in the theater in a while. I give Sing Street a rating of very FRESH!