Irish Teenager Forms Band to Get the Girl in Feel-Good Musical ‘Sing Street’

Sandra Miska

An Irish teenager’s coming-of-age story is told in the period musical “Sing Street,” a rare film that blends humor scrappiness. Newcomer Ferdia Walsh-Peelo steals the show as Conor Lalor, a 15-year-old boy in Dublin in 1985. A recession in Ireland has caused many young people to flee to England but it has also hit home for Conor. His father Robert (Aiden Gillen) has experienced a professional decline that has forced him and his wife Penny (Maria Doyle Kennedy) to make sacrifices including taking Conor out of his Jesuit school and transferring him to a state-run Christian Brothers school, Synge Street.

Conor takes this uprooting relatively well until he actually gets to school and becomes a target for bully Barry (Ian Kenny) and hard-nosed priest, Brother Baxter (Don Wycherley). He is immediately befriended by fellow outcast Darren (Ben Carolan) but the bright spot in his new situation is Raphina (Lucy Boynton), a local 16-year-old with a troubled past and punk rock look who has dreams of running away to London to become a model. Smitten, Conor asks Raphina to be in his band’s music video. The only problem is, although he plays guitar, Conor isn’t actually in a band. This turns out to be a minor setback as Darren makes himself the manager of the yet-to-be-formed band and easily convinces music aficionado Eamon (Mark McKenna) to join. The boys next recruit Ngig (Percy Chamburka), their school’s only black student, believing that he must be musically inclined because of his race. They aren’t too off the mark in this case as Ngig plays a mean keyboard. Rounding out the group are Larry (Conor Hamilton) and Garry (Ian Kenney) who respond to a flyer posted at school. They name their band Sing Street.

Mentoring Conor is his older brother Brendan (Seth Rogen lookalike Jack Reynor), a 21-year-old college dropout and pothead stuck in limbo at his parents’ house. Brendan introduces his little brother to a variety of new wave or new romantic artists including Duran Duran, The Cure and Joe Jackson. Music videos were an emerging art form and the brothers gather around the tube to check out this latest craze. Much humor comes from the generation gap between Robert and his children as he brushes off Duran Duran as being “no Beatles.”

The heart of the film is Conor’s budding relationship with Raphina who nicknamed him Cosmo. Being a nice guy, he finds competition for her affections in an older greasy-haired bad boy named Evan. Raphina’s presence in Sing Street’s otherwise laughable lo-fi videos as well as her styling efforts, help legitimize the band. But most importantly, she is Conor’s muse and together with Eamon he churns out some quality tunes. What started out as a way to get girls becomes a real calling for Conor. Predictably, his studies fall by the wayside and his parents’ marriage crumbles and the young lad finds himself putting all his eggs in one basket. All the band’s hard work culminates in their first gig, Synge Street’s big end-of-the-term dance, a rare opportunity for the boys and girls to come together and let loose or let loose as much as they can under Brother Baxter’s watchful eye.

Irish filmmaker John Carney not only wrote and directed “Sing Street,” but he also co-wrote the music with Gary Clark, former frontman of the ‘80’s Scottish band Danny Collins. There are many similarities between “Sing Street” and another musical from Carney, “Once.” Both films are set in Dublin and feature catchy songs and a romance but what stands out about “Sing Street” is that it is surprisingly funny. A lot of the witty dialogue comes from Gillen who is best known for playing Petyr Baelish also known as Littlefinger in “Game of Thrones,” a role that doesn’t exactly allow him to showcase his comedic chops. Older brother Brendon also stands out especially at the end when he really comes through for Conor. “Sing Street” may not be the most realistic film ever made but its fairy tale quality will leave audiences wanting to cheer.

“Sing Street” opens April 15 in select theaters.