A treat of a movie that uses its meagre budget to perfect
effect in capturing Belfast at the brink of punk, inter-splicing newsreels and
the constant undercurrent of paranoia and divide.
The cast plays it straight despite the fashions to capture
the energy and excitement of a potential new dawn. The music becomes not just
the narrative drive but an opportunity for reflection on just how startling
something like hearing Teenage Kicks was for the first time in that context of
depression, conflict and upheaval whatever side of the Irish Sea you were.
We get all we need to know about the characters
without resorting to stereotypes and the motivations are clear – passion
over the pragmatic, love over the frustration and, yes, the music over religion
and politics. Occasionally it majestically skips and trips into the surreal and
then jolts us back with an army patrol or the aftermath of another terrorist
attack.
An absolute pleasure for men of a certain age and in
“I’m going to play that again” the goosebump moment of the movie year.
9/10
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