Movie that lifts you up in song and spirit

Rating: 9/10 (10 May 2016)

A charming movie from Ireland about a half-dozen Dublin boys at the Synge Street Christian Brothers School who start a band. We sort of know this story. We've sort of seen it before. But the freshness of the acting make it fun all over again. Conor Lalor (brilliantly played by Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) is a new student at the school and the adolescent boys there plan to make his life miserable. Life at home is bad, too, with his parents fighting and splitting. A real place, the Synge Street CBS has a long history, and this movie takes place in a time of pupil loss and relatively low achievement (a line in the credits mentions that the school is "not the same place" it was in the 1980s, when the film is set). The first scene of Conor in his new classroom shows the elderly priest who is their teacher, hearing aid dangling, writing on the blackboard with his back to the pupils who are creating holy hell. The principal steps inside and the students stand to attention. The principal glances at the board and points out to the teacher that in this class he is to teach French, not Latin. Teacher: "French. How modern." The school's Latin motto "Viriliter Age" ("Act Manly"), is translated by Conor's older brother as "Rape your students." In short, the school is chaos. Conor channels his creativity toward writing songs and creating the band, Sing Street. These musical ambitions have a lofty goal: impressing the older teen girl, Raphina (played by Lucy Boynton), who stands near the school every day and claims to be a model. If she is a model, and if he has a band, she can star in his music videos! Simple. The fact that he mostly carries it off is wondrous, resulting in a feel-good movie about a collection of near-misfits who make music work for them. The band's songs are by Gary Clark, lead of the 1980s British band Danny Wilson, and it's good. We don't know how Conor hears it, but what he sees in terms of music video potential is the pole star he's determined to follow—and take Raphina with him.