Sing Street: The Irish musical you need to seek out

Once director John Carney's latest could well be his best film yet - here's why you should see it

There were two films simultaneously released earlier on this year that, at their heart, follow a band of misfits who defeat the odds through the harnessing of their powers. One is a clunky misfire of a sequel; the other is Sing Street.

Just like Bryan Singer's superhero sequel X-Men: Apocalypse, Sing Street transports audiences back to mid-Eighties. Location wise, however, we're in south inner-city Dublin. The story follows Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), a well-meaning teenager from a skint family who has just been moved to free state school Synge Street CBS; bullies are rife, his parents (Maria Doyle Kennedy and Aidan "Littlefinger" Gillen) are warring and he's locking heads with the religious principal who’s not too forgiving about his lack of black shoes.

One glance in the direction of Raphina (Lucy Boynton), a ‘model’ perched on the steps outside the school, changes everything. After a sole encounter, Conor’s talked himself into joining a band to sustain her attentions. He and new bandmate Eamon (Mark McKenna) even have material for their first song, funky ode "The Riddle of the Model." Not that he’d tell her so (“It’s about another model I know,” he says, feigned arrogance transparent to all).

Sing Street is the latest film from Irish writer-director John Carney whose 2007 busking musical drama Once spawned an Oscar (for song "Falling Slowly") and West End adaptation. Going on to tackle the New York record scene with follow-up Begin Again in 2013, here Carney throws us back in time to the days of New Romanticism. Cue Duran Duran, The Cure, Hall & Oates - Conor’s musical explorations bring about a change in his fashion tastes, each musical injection boosting his confidence; without a word spoken, these repeated sequences fluently show his transformation from Conor the struggling new kid into Cosmo the talented upstart.

In the vein of continuing the unlikely X-Men comparison, it could be argued that the film finds its Professor X in the character of Cosmo's composed brother Brendan, played with a relaxed surety by up-and-comer Jack Reynor (What Richard Did); a stretch perhaps, but what the hell. The wise-beyond-his-years advice he dishes out provides Cosmo with the inspiration he so needs to push ahead with his dreams ("Rock and roll is a risk," Brendan tells his younger brother. "You risk being ridiculed.")

Through Brendan, the film is tinged with a certain melancholy. Staying at home, smoking too much and scrambling for the sofa in time for Top of the Pops, his past achievements now simply (and tragically) serve to help Cosmo on his way. With minimal screen time, Reynor breathes life into a character whose dreams are reawakened by his brother's adamance to beat the odds. Perhaps this is why the film emanates a vibe similar to that of Mike Nichols' seminal 1968 classic The Graduate; how can Cosmo be truly sure what he wants? Isn't it better to seek an answer than to see your dreams disappear over the Irish sea?

With the film's suitably ambiguous closing moments, you’ll leave the cinema certain you've watched a film that'll no doubt make more of a lasting impression than any churned out superhero sequel. For all the laughs to be had, you may even have something in your eye. As Raphina tells Cosmo at the film's midway point: "That's your problem - you're not happy being sad."

Thanks to John Carney's latest, that's exactly what you'll be.

Sing Street is available on Blu-ray and DVD from 8 August, courtesy of Lionsgate UK Home Entertainment