Riddle of The Singer

Rating: Null/10 (16 May 2017)

Hoping to impress a girl, a 1980s teen starts a band and awakens a genuine passion for music beyond meeting girls in this amiable drama from Ireland. The chemistry between the protagonist and his friends feels real, the sourced song soundtrack is top notch and the band come up with several memorable 80s-style tunes of their own. The film's best aspect though is how it taps into the rising popularity of music videos in the mid-1980s with a superb analysis of Duran Duran's 'Rio' clip, plus an awesome segment in which the friends film a video clip of their own ("The Riddle of the Model") and absolutely nail it right down to the long flowing costumes. What exists here beyond the basic story of a bunch of friends and their love of music is somewhat less interesting. There are standard bullies, nasty teachers who abuse their powers and our hero has a rather humdrum dysfunctional home life. Unremarkable as these aspects of the film may be, the film still stacks up quite well overall since the music is so often in focus. There is also a delightful portion of the film heavily influenced by the prom sequence in 'Back to the Future', and while the protagonist's strained relationship with his parents does not resonate too much, he has some great moments alone with his college dropout older brother who rues the fact that he was the first born and had to suffer their unstable home life for longer.