Been a fair minute since I last saw this and, truth be told, the main reason for this rewatch was to see a very early role from 'Brassic's Bronagh Gallagher (she played Carol in that and Bernie in this).
If you've already seen the film then you likely already your own opinions but if not, in a nutshell, it is the story of an wildly-confidant young man named Jimmy who wants to start a band (not because he can, or even wants to, play an instrument, but because he wants to be a manager) against a backdrop of Dublin circa the late '80s, with that era's commensurate political and social upheaval serving almost entirely as little more than background noise. The film's drama is largely generated from interactions within (or in some cases, related to) the disparate band members, all but one of whom are introduced, via Jimmy, to the American Soul music which is to be the sole (hee-hee) content of their repertoire.
The movie is fine (not Parker's best work) as it tracks the rise and fall of the band that the film tracks hits all the expected moments (ramshackle rehearsal, performance mishaps, gaining a fanbase, ego-based rifts, and so on), but the thing that propels it is the music itself and the performances of said music by the cast of mostly non-actor (at the time) musicians. When I saw it originally, that seemed genuinely impressive -- seeing it now, having heard the original songs (and seemingly endless numbers of other covers of them), I confess that I'd rather listen to Wilson Picket, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, etc; I mean, Andrew Scott is a fine singer but he's no Al Green.
The script, from Roddy Doyle's novel (and co-written by him), is breezy -- perhaps to a fault as it can't really prop up the 'fall' section beyond showing some bickering -- and occasionally funny though it's best moments, few and far between as they are, focus on the home life of the various characters. And if you are at all curious, check out Gallagher's music career, he stuff is pretty great.
Not sad I rewatched it, but probably won't need to again.
Been a fair minute since I last saw this and, truth be told, the main reason for this rewatch was to see a very early role from 'Brassic's Bronagh Gallagher (she played Carol in that and Bernie in this).
If you've already seen the film then you likely already your own opinions but if not, in a nutshell, it is the story of an wildly-confidant young man named Jimmy who wants to start a band (not because he can, or even wants to, play an instrument, but because he wants to be a manager) against a backdrop of Dublin circa the late '80s, with that era's commensurate political and social upheaval serving almost entirely as little more than background noise. The film's drama is largely generated from interactions within (or in some cases, related to) the disparate band members, all but one of whom are introduced, via Jimmy, to the American Soul music which is to be the sole (hee-hee) content of their repertoire.
The movie is fine (not Parker's best work) as it tracks the rise and fall of the band that the film tracks hits all the expected moments (ramshackle rehearsal, performance mishaps, gaining a fanbase, ego-based rifts, and so on), but the thing that propels it is the music itself and the performances of said music by the cast of mostly non-actor (at the time) musicians. When I saw it originally, that seemed genuinely impressive -- seeing it now, having heard the original songs (and seemingly endless numbers of other covers of them), I confess that I'd rather listen to Wilson Picket, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, etc; I mean, Andrew Scott is a fine singer but he's no Al Green.
The script, from Roddy Doyle's novel (and co-written by him), is breezy -- perhaps to a fault as it can't really prop up the 'fall' section beyond showing some bickering -- and occasionally funny though it's best moments, few and far between as they are, focus on the home life of the various characters. And if you are at all curious, check out Gallagher's music career, he stuff is pretty great.
Not sad I rewatched it, but probably won't need to again.
