john carney | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: Sing Street

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Audi Dublin International Film Festival 2016.

Sing Street is a joyous musical coming of age story.

As with Once and Begin Again, director John Carney demonstrates an innate (and romantic) appreciation for the role of music in interpersonal interactions. As in both Once and Begin Again, Carney employs music as an emotional shorthand; both in how the characters relate to one another and how the audience relates to the film. As with his two prior films, Carney treats music as a language of love and attraction, offering his characters the chance to communicate ideas or feeling that can only be hinted at through conversation, no matter how intimate.

However, Sing Street more firmly ties its musical elements to a sense of memory or nostalgia, with a soundtrack that evokes the film’s secondary school setting as effectively as costumes or set dressings. Sing Street is an ode to the joys and adventures of youth, set to a catchy synthesiser beat.

singstreet1

Continue reading →

Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: adiff, adiff 2016, audi dublin film festival, film, irish film, john carney, Movie, non-review review, review, sing street | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Begin Again

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Darren

Music is absolutely wonderful. It’s a method of communication that has the tremendous ability to bring people together, and to help set mood and tone. Of course, there’s all sorts of delightful complications to it – although songs may capture a particular moment in the life of the songwriter, as if trapping emotions in amber, they also capture particular moods and moments for the person listening to the music. A snippet of a song overhead faintly on a radio through an apartment wall can serve as a gateway back in time.

Although – speaking strictly scientifically – smell is the sense that leads most directly to memory, music has perhaps the strongest emotional resonance. Beloved songs provide a snapshot of something as transcendental as sensation and atmosphere. It is very hard to put these sentiments into words, to articulate through language. A guitar chord struck at the right time in the right rhythm, or a syllable stressed in one direction rather than any other, can say so much in such a small space.

Begin Again is a charming romantic ode to the power of music, beautifully and elegantly capturing the romance of song.

Playing along…

Continue reading →

Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: begin again, film, john carney, Keira Knightley, mark ruffalo, Movie, music, non-review review, review | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Once

Posted on July 30, 2009 by Darren

Maybe Once is that mythical “good Irish movie” that comes along roughly once every five years or so, or maybe I’m being a little soft on it, but I really enjoyed it when I caught it last night. It does have some rather glaring flaws, but it seems to work well despite them.