Sing Street [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray]

Director: John Carney John Carney

Overview

Shy Dublin teenager Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) feels like an outsider after his parents' money woes force him to transfer to a new, rough-and-tumble school. One day, he spots the trendy Raphina (Lucy Boynton), and, unable to think of a reason to talk to her, asks her to star in the first music video for his band. She agrees, which puts Conor in a bind since said band does not yet exist. Together with his friend Darren (Ben Carolan), he starts a glam-rock-inspired outfit as he falls deeper in love with the enigmatic Raphina. John Carney (Once, Begin Again) wrote and directed this crowd-pleasing musical drama set in 1985 Ireland.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/26/2016
UPC:	0013132640419
Original Release:	2016
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	LIONSGATE - 600000-AEC LGE
Region Code:	A
Language:	English
Time:	1:45:00
Sales rank:	25,422

Special Features

Making Sing Street; Writer/Director John Carney & Adam Levine Talk Sing Street; Cast Auditions

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Ferdia Walsh-Peelo	Cosmo
Lucy Boynton	Raphina
Jack Reynor	Brendan
Maria Doyle Kennedy	Penny
Aidan Gillen	Robert
Kelly Thornton	Ann
Mark McKenna	Eamon
Ben Carolan	Darren
Percy Chamburuka	Ngig
Conor Hamilton	Larry
Karl Rice	Garry
Ian Kenny	Barry
Don Wycherley	Brother Baxter
Lydia McGuinness	Miss Dunne
John Carney	Composer
Gary Clark Jr.	Composer
Des Keogh	Brother Barnabas
Kian Murphy	Mick Mahon
Marcella Plunkett	Eamon's Mum
Tony Doyle	Wayne
Kyle Bradley Donaldson	5th Former
Paul Gibbons	Exam Supervisor
Eva-Jane Gaffney	Jacinta
Paul Roe	Surveyor

Technical Credits

John Carney

John Carney	Director,Screenwriter,Producer
Anthony Bregman	Producer
Martina Niland	Producer
Raj Brinder Singh	Executive Producer,Producer
Kevin Scott Frakes	Executive Producer,Producer
Bob Weinstein	Executive Producer,Executive Producer,Producer,Producer
Tom Balogh	Special Effects
Peter Blayney	Sound Effects
Niall Brady	Sound Effects
Steve Fanagan	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

John Carney, the Irish-born writer/director of Once and Begin Again, scores another musical crowd-pleaser with Sing Street, a semiautobiographical bit of nostalgia that's sure to excite fans of his earlier work, as well as win over moviegoers eager for uplift and genuine emotion after a season of crude comedies, violent villains, and silly superheroes. The story, set in 1985 Dublin, begins with 14-year-old Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) learning that his cash-depleted parents need to pull him out of his upper-crust Jesuit school and enroll him in the Christian Brothers public school on Synge Street (which Carney himself once attended). Conor quickly runs into a host of problems at the new place: A stern, rules-obsessed priest (Don Wycherley) admonishes him on his first day for wearing brown shoes instead of the mandated black, and a slingshot-totting bully is eager to torment him. But things start to look up when he spies the slightly older Raphina (Lucy Boynton), a too-cool-for-school beauty who boasts that she will be traveling to London soon to become a model. Conor is smitten and asks if she would like to appear in a music video for his band. Sure, she says. There's just one problem -- he doesn't have a band. Fortunately, Conor is nothing if not resourceful, and he quickly goes about recruiting classmates for his musical act, even pressuring new best friend Darren (Ben Carolan), who fancies himself a savvy businessman, to manage the group. Conor's first recruit proves to be key: Eamon (Mark McKenna), a teenage musician who can play almost any instrument, becomes the Edge to Conor's Bono, and the pair begin crafting infectious pop sounds influenced by mid-'80s radio hits from groups like Duran Duran, the Cure, a-ha, Spandau Ballet, and Hall & Oates. They name their band Sing Street, a clever wordplay on the school's street address, while Raphina rechristens Conor as "Cosmo." Conor's stoner brother Brendan (a scene-stealing Jack Reynor) also helps out with his musical apprenticeship, as the college dropout and music aficionado schools his sibling on current trends and new, cutting-edge videos. Their heartfelt relationship is one of the film's many highlights; the brothers dive into music, in part, to escape the near-constant bickering of their parents, whose marriage is disintegrating before their eyes. Sing Street is filled with original toe-tapping tunes, written by Carney and former Danny Wilson member Gary Clark, that perfectly conjure up '80s new wave, pop, and rock. Standouts include "The Riddle of the Model,"" "On My Way to Find You,"" and "Drive It Like You Stole It,"" the latter number being the focus of a Back to the Future dream sequence in which Sing Street plays at a high-school prom. Sing Street's boy-meets-girl story is as tried-and-true as they come, but Carney's fresh-faced cast make it feel authentic and new. Walsh-Peelo, who is in nearly every scene, exudes sweet-natured innocence at first, and believably evolves into an emerging rock star with genuine sex appeal by film's end. Equally compelling is Boynton, whose orphaned Raphina is, beneath all the heavy glam makeup, just a lonely, misguided teen yearning for affection. You can't take your eyes off of her when she's onscreen. Sing Street is the very definition of a feel-good movie. While it does explore issues involving divorce, domestic abuse, and bullying, Carney never allows those elements to overwhelm the film. Instead, they add rich dimension to what could easily have been a routine love story. And it's a love story with a fanciful, fairy-tale ending that, while far-fetched, comes off as note-perfect in this director's sure hands.