Blissfully Happy

Rating: 7/10 (30 December 2016)

If one was to critique a movie based on the emotional feel at the end this movie would probably deserve a 10. Sing Street, directed by John Carney features a young musician who starts a band just to impress a girl, from there it's a semi-adventure dealing with the boy and the girl and their quest to find their "vocation." The plot sounds simple enough but the movie's main strength is not in it's plot structure but the emotion the movie makes the audience feel. From thirty minutes in I was smiling through the majority of the movie as I was charmed by the optimistic aura this movie gives. Indeed with the bright colour palette Carney and his cinematographer Yaron Orbach adds to the tone of this film. Instead of portraying real and gritty life they choose to focus on the teenage naivety and energy, sure they do go murky grey when the film calls it but most of the time the colour combination of yellow, green and blue simply hypnotizes the audiences of a more blissfully unaware time.
What adds to the mood is also the music; borrowing inspirations from the pop and rock music of the eighties the music the band plays captures that spirit. The music are all top notch and if this movie had a broader showing it would be in everybody's playlist by now. The songs are played wonderfully by the cast, especially Ferdia Walsh -Peelo the main actor who plays Connor. His initial shyness contrasts well with the progression of the band and his character. All the other characters play their roles great as well, with me believing that they are actually people in the 1980s.
While I am just gushing about the film and it's style there is a reason why this film is a 6 and not a 10. The first is the characters or the lack of the usage of them. While the movie is named after the band Sing Street we hardly get the individual characterization of the band members. While the introduction to them are great and all quirky only one is fleshed out and the rest seem like a backdrop. If the movie developed the band members a bit there could have been interesting dynamic for Connor to play with. As well the plot is too simplistic and because of that there are some forced conflicts that gets dropped quickly. Connor's brother, Brendan seems to have a character development and falls out, the girlfriend Raphina switches her feelings way too much and betrays the already established character from time to time, and there's another character who seem to accept the band only to hate them within the five minutes afterward.
Even with those plot flaws I left my seat pretty happy and was along the character most of the time. If you are feeling sad or just want to be optimistic put this on as it will make you have a smile from cheek to cheek.