Boy Meets Girl

Rating: 7/10 (17 July 2016)

Writer-director John Carney repeats his familiar (Once) boy meets girl rock and roll story in Dublin, Ireland in 1985. The soundtrack features Duran Duran, The Cure, Hall and Oates, and others from that time period. Conor(Ferdio Walsh-Peelo) is a fifteen year old who falls in love at first sight when he spots sixteen year old Raphina(Lucy Boynton) standing on the front steps of a building. He works up the courage to speak with her. She tells him that she is a model who aspires to travel to London and the big time. He says that he is in a band and asks her to star in a music video. The problem is he has no band, and so he manages to gather up some locals and they actually become rather decent musicians and Conor has some talent as a song writer. The rest is fairly familiar and somewhat predictable, but the leads are so charming that Sing Street is worth watching. It is not as good as "once" but Carney keeps the film interesting and the music is not bad, so crank up the surround sound and enjoy the ride.