''Sing Street'' is a 2016

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film written and directed by John Carney from a story by Carney and Simon Carmody. Starring Lucy Boynton, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Aidan Gillen, Jack Reynor, Kelly Thornton and Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, the story revolves around a teenage boy who forms a band to impress a girl in 1980s Dublin. It is an international co-production of Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The film had its world premiere at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

on 24 January 2016. It was released in Ireland on 17 March 2016, in the United States on 15 April and in the United Kingdom on 20 May. The film received positive reviews from critics, grossed $13.6 million worldwide on a $4 million budget, and was nominated for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the 74th Golden Globe Awards.

Plot

In 1985, 15-year-old Conor Lalor lives in inner-city South Dublin with his parents, Robert and Penny, and two older siblings, Brendan and Ann. Since his parents constantly argue, Conor writes music as a way to cope with his troubled home life. Due to recent financial difficulties, Robert and Penny announce that Conor will be transferred from his private school to Synge Street, a public Christian Brothers school. On his first day at Synge Street, Conor is reprimanded by Brother Baxter, the stern school principal, for not wearing the mandatory black shoes, despite Conor's pleas that he cannot afford new shoes. After Baxter orders him to remove his brown shoes, Conor paints the shoes black. An encounter with school bully Barry introduces Conor to Darren, a budding entrepreneur. Conor then meets and becomes smitten with Raphina, a 16-year-old aspiring model who lives across the street from the school. In an effort to impress Raphina, he decides to form a band and recruits her for a music video. Darren agrees to manage his band and introduces him to multi-instrumentalist Eamon. They are soon joined by keyboardist Ngig, drummer Larry and bassist Garry, naming their band Sing Street. The band practises in Eamon's living room, playing covers until Brendan, a music enthusiast, encourages Conor to develop the band's own style. Conor writes original songs with Eamon, describing themselves as "futurists". Sing Street films their first music video wearing outlandish costumes; Raphina acts as '' ingénue'' and makeup artist. Conor wears makeup to school the next day, and Baxter forcibly removes it. Raphina gives Conor the nickname "Cosmo", which she says is more in keeping with his new band's image. She tells him about her plans to leave for London soon with her older boyfriend, Evan, with whom she has an on-and-off relationship. After spending the day filming a music video for a new song, Conor and Raphina kiss. At school, he stands up to Barry. As Conor and Raphina grow closer, he takes her out to Dalkey Island in his grandfather's motor cruiser. There, they view the car ferry leaving

Dún Laoghaire Dún Laoghaire ( , ) is a suburban coastal town in County Dublin in Ireland. It is the administrative centre of the county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. The town was built up alongside a small existing settlement following 1816 legislation th ...

for the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, Robert and Penny inform the family that they are getting legally separated and selling the house, as Penny has fallen in love with her boss and plans to move in with him, while Robert intends to get himself an apartment. Sing Street prepares to film a ''

Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985 ...

''-inspired music video for their new song in the school gym, but Conor is disheartened when Raphina fails to show up, only to find that she has left for London without telling him. A few days later, Raphina returns to Dublin, explaining to Conor that Evan abandoned her in London after they had a fight. When Raphina laments that her life now involves "hanging out with a 15-year-old schoolboy", Conor distances himself from her. An opportunity arises for the band to play at an end-of-term dance at school. Conor offers Barry the chance to be the band's roadie and escape his abusive family. For their encore at the school dance, Sing Street performs a new song mocking bullies like Baxter while distributing homemade masks of Baxter's face to the audience. Raphina arrives as the band is playing to an excited crowd. After the dance, Conor and Raphina reconcile. Later that night, Conor and Raphina persuade Brendan to drive them to Dalkey, so the pair can escape in the motor cruiser and head to London, bringing with them Raphina's headshots and Conor's demo tapes and videos. Before leaving, Conor says goodbye to his sleeping mother. As the three arrive at the harbour at dawn, Conor and Brendan embrace. Conor and Raphina sail out to sea, following the ferry across the rough

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

to a new life in London. Brendan watches them disappear into the distance and cheers, overjoyed that his younger brother has moved on to greater things.

Cast

Production

Development

In February 2014, it was announced that John Carney would be directing the film, from a screenplay he wrote about a boy starting a band in order to impress a girl. Carney would produce through his Distressed Films banner, along with Anthony Bregman through his Likely Story Banner, Kevin Frakes for PalmStar Media, and Raj Brinder Singh for Merced Media Partners, with Paul Trijbits and Christian Grass for FilmWave. The film is a semi-autobiographical depiction of Carney's upbringing in Dublin.

Casting

Sing Street cast at Dublin International Film Festival

In a July 2014 interview, Carney announced he would be casting unknown actors in the film. The unknown actors turned out to be Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Ben Carolan, Mark McKenna, Percy Chamburuka, Conor Hamilton, Karl Rice and Ian Kenny. In September 2014, it was announced that Aidan Gillen, Maria Doyle Kennedy and Jack Reynor had joined the cast of the film, portraying the role of Conor's father, mother and brother respectively.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began in September 2014 in Dublin and concluded on 25 October 2014. Its namesake school,

Synge Street CBS Synge Street CBS (colloquially Synger) is a boys' non-fee-paying state school, under the auspices of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust, located in the Dublin 8 area of Dublin, Ireland. The school was founded in 1864 by Canon ...

, was among the shooting locations for the film.

Music

Much of the original music by the band "Sing Street" was composed by Danny Wilson frontman Gary Clark, with Carney, Ken and Carl Papenfus of the band

Relish A relish (a pickle-based condiment) is a cooking, cooked and pickling, pickled culinary dish made of chopped vegetables, fruits or herbs, typically used as a condiment to enhance a staple. Examples are chutneys and the North American relish, a p ...

, Graham Henderson and Zamo Riffman also receiving writing credits. Adam Levine co-wrote (with Carney and

Glen Hansard Glen James Hansard (born 21 April 1970) is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician. Since 1990, he has been the frontman of the Irish rock band The Frames, with whom he has released six studio albums, four of which have charted in the top ten o ...

) and sings on the track "Go Now". The film also features music of the period from

the Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Crawley in 1976 by Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums). The band's current line-up comprises Smith, Perry Bamonte (guitar and keyboards), Reev ...

a-ha A-ha (often stylised as ''a''-h''a''; ) is a Norwegian synth-pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. Founded by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars and vocals), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards, guitars and vocals), and Morten Harket (lead vocals), the band ros ...

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English pop rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. After several early changes, the band's line-up settled ...

the Clash The Clash were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...

, Hall & Oates,

Spandau Ballet Spandau Ballet ( ) were an English new wave band formed in Islington, London, in 1979. Inspired by the capital's post-punk underground dance scene, they emerged at the start of the 1980s as the house band for the Blitz Kids (New Romantics), ...

, the Blades and

the Jam The Jam were an English rock band formed in 1972 in Woking, Surrey, consisting of Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler. They released 18 consecutive top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in ...

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album was released by

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

on 11 March 2016.

Release

In February 2014, it was announced that FilmNation Entertainment had been selected to sell international rights to the film. In May 2014, it was announced The Weinstein Company had acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film, for $3 million. ''Sing Street'' had its world premiere at the

on 24 January 2016. The film screened at the Dublin Film Festival on 18 February 2016, and at

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

on 11 March 2016. The film was released by Lionsgate in Ireland on 17 March and in the United Kingdom on 20 May 2016. It was released in the United States on 15 April 2016.

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on 8 August 2016.

Reception

Box office

''Sing Street'' grossed $13.6 million worldwide. In the United States, the film made $63,573 from five theatres on its opening weekend, an average of $13,796 per venue.

Critical response

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 95% based on 214 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "''Sing Street'' is a feel-good musical with huge heart and irresistible optimism, and its charming cast and hummable tunes help to elevate its familiar plotting." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 79 out of 100 based on 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by PostTrak gave the film a 96% overall positive score and an 85% "definite recommend". Guy Lodge of '' Variety'' gave the film a positive review, writing, "Perched on a tricky precipice between chippy kitchen-sink realism and lush wish-fulfilment fantasy, this mini-'' Commitments'' gets away with even its cutesiest indulgences thanks to a wholly lovable ensemble of young Irish talent and the tightest pop tunes—riffing on Duran Duran and the Cure with equal abandon and affection—any gaggle of Catholic schoolboys could hope to write themselves. Given the right marketing and word of mouth, this Weinstein Co. release could ''Sing'' a song of far more than sixpence." In ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'', Mark Kermode gave the film four out of five stars, writing: "When it comes to capturing the strange, romantic magic of making music, few modern film-makers are more on the money than John Carney." He added, "The bittersweet, 'happy sad' drama that follows has drawn inevitable, if misguided, comparisons with ''The Commitments'', yet tonally this is closer to the teen spirit of Todd Graff's 2009 film '' Bandslam''...or even Richard Linklater’s sublime '' School of Rock''. As Carney has proved previously, he knows how to straddle the line between the sound in the room and the sound in your head – a sequence that segues from bedroom composition to living room rehearsal (with tea and biscuits) to full studio production perfectly negotiates the space between kitchen-sink realism and musical fantasy in which this lovely, lyrical movie casts its spell". Kermode concluded by saying, "Happy sad indeed. I laughed, I cried, I bought the soundtrack album."

Accolades

Stage adaptation

''Sing Street'', like Carney's film '' Once'', was adapted for stage as a musical, also called ''Sing Street''. The screenplay was adapted by

Enda Walsh Enda Walsh (born 1967) is an Irish playwright. Biography Enda Walsh was born in Kilbarrack, North Dublin on 7 February 1967. His father ran a furniture shop and his mother had been an actress. He is the second youngest of six children. Walsh ...

(who also wrote the book for the musical '' Once'') and the production was directed by Rebecca Taichman. The show premiered at New York Theatre Workshop on 16 December 2019 after extensive workshops. The musical was set to premiere at the Lyceum Theatre in previews on 26 March 2020 and officially on 19 April. but it suspended its production due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Nevertheless, a cast recording featuring the original Broadway cast was released on 22 April 2020.

References

External links