N&H

Returning to Sundance after breaking out with his Oscar-winning, shoe-string romance musical Once, director John Carney is back on a victory tour of sorts with Sing Street. Imbuing the same love for music its emotional highs, this is a film more earnest in its pleasure-giving than his last feature, Begin Again. While the structure can be a touch too formulaic, it’s difficult to resist getting swept up in the music and its modest ambitions, for his new musical is acutely attuned to being a crowd-pleaser in all the right ways.

In a lower-class area of Dublin circa 1985, we follow Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), a teenager whose school has just been downgraded so his parents can free up some money. He’s now forced to attend the local Catholic school Synge Street, which is full of a rough bunch and teachers that could care less about the kids — where a student as intelligent as Conor doesn’t quite fit in. Until he forms a band, that is, the catalyst for which is that of many a band before it: getting the girl. One day after school, Conor sees the beguiling Raphina (Lucy Boynton), a self-described model with aspirations to move to London, from across the street and sheepishly convinces her to be part of the music video for his band.