The first time I watched "Sing Street" three years ago, the only thing I could say about the film was "Youth is beautiful". But looking at it now, I can see many different meanings.
Sing Street is a beautiful and brutal movie.
Connor, a 15-year-old boy, was bullied by his teachers and classmates after he was forced to transfer schools because his parents were at odds, his brother was idle, and his family was financially poor. Not only that, but the girl he fell in love with at first sight already has a boyfriend who is older than him and drives a sports car.
But Connor didn't stop there. In order to strike up a conversation with the girl and talk nonsense about being in a band, in order not to wear a gang, I actually found a few like-minded friends. From then on, I live a happy life of writing songs during the day, class, night, weekend rehearsal, and falling in love. The film talks about youth, music, love, as well as family, school, family, friendship, and courage. The 15-year-old boy grew up actively and passively in the intertwined web of these lines.
The subtlety of this film is not that "youth is fearless, it is to play the band and fall in love vigorously", but that although it has always praised the beauty of youth, it will not shy away from the trivialities and pains of real life. The director unabashedly presented us the joys and sorrows that everyone may encounter in their short youth, and even told us vaguely what Connor and Rafina will look like in the future. Just like the keyword that appears many times in the movie, happy-sad.
"I'm a futurist and never look back"
In the film, Connor said this sentence at least twice, of course, in the corresponding context, it was all for his musical style. But since the movie is about youth and growth, when I try to look forward to his life, I have an interesting idea.
What Connor and Rafina look like in the future is likely to be what Connor's parents live like now.
Connor's family background is very clear in the movie. The family is financially difficult and indebted, his parents are not arguing with each other all day long, and his brother dropped out of school to do nothing at home. Still, when the Connors saw Duran Duran's MV on TV, his father said, "They don't sing live like the Beatles?" Although his father was mostly in a negative image, he never did. This detail shows that when he was young, at least he would pay attention to the Beatles, instead of being as rigid and conservative as he is now.
Another very important point is that both Connor and his brother have relatively good musical appreciation and creativity. Although the sister did not perform directly, it can be seen from the few shots that she also likes music. The three brothers and sisters What is the source of hobbies? In the 1980s, when access to resources and information was much more difficult than it is today, it was most likely due to parental influence.
Rafina shares many similarities with Connor's mother.
First of all, they are all beautiful and have excellent aesthetic ability. Rafio is beautiful. There is no doubt that her mother can still get the love of her boss more than ten years after giving birth to her child, so she must be beautiful too. Rafio will do makeup for everyone during the MV shooting, and his mother can express her heartfelt admiration for Duran Duran who sings on TV. This aesthetic ability is exactly the same.
Secondly, they have been pursuing a better economic foundation and life. Rafina liked mature men from the start, and went to London with him without saying a word, believing that he would take care of everything. The mother's three children have all grown up, and will cheat on her boss and be willing to legally separate from her husband (here we only talk about choice, not morality).
In addition, their hearts are burning with the flame of a dream. For the best effect of the MV, Rafina jumped into the sea without hesitation despite her inability to swim and the cold weather. She also told Connor that doing things for the sake of art cannot be done halfway. My mother came home before sunset every day, taking advantage of the little time that was only her own, drinking and reading the newspapers and basking in the sun at her doorstep, pretending she was on vacation in Spain.
You see, even the beginning of the relationship between Connor and Rafina is somewhat similar to that of their parents. One of my brother's lines mentioned that his parents were together just to have sex, but don't forget that Connor's initial conversation was only because Rafina was beautiful.
Therefore, based on the above comparison and what my brother mentioned, the musicians who stayed in Ireland eventually became alcoholics (the director made it clear that the protagonist's final departure was just a fantasy), the answer is ready to come out. If Connor and Rafina can keep going, they may not become resentful couples in the future, but they will definitely be close to their parents' current life. They are under pressure from all aspects of life, and they are faced with daily life. No waves.
Growth and happy-sad throughout
As a music fan of The Cure, when I watched the movie with the band's song appearing in the movie, I didn't expect that the movie's positioning of The Cure as "happy-sad" was so accurate. What I didn't expect was that, "Happy-sad" is not only used to describe music in the film, but also refers to the youthful feelings and confused life of teenagers, which runs through the film from beginning to end.
Everyone who has seen the movie will not deny that "Sing Street" is not about love but growth.
In order to chase girls, Connor mustered up the courage to form a band. Under the guidance of his brother, from a band that only covered popular songs, he gradually became able to write his own emotional songs. This is the growth of his ability. In the process of forming the band, I have gained a close friend like Eamon who is both talented and unconditionally cooperated and supported him, which is the growth of friendship. After being moved by Rafina's persistence, clarifying his feelings, from being ignorant to delivering sincerity, is the growth of love. From being timid and cowardly to taking the initiative to recruit Barry who had bullied him during a band performance, to singing openly against the principal in front of the whole school, is the growth of courage.
And most importantly, after witnessing the discord between his parents and understanding that his brother and Rafina had to give up in pursuit of their dreams, he began to understand his parents and brother, and then learned to face the helplessness and cruelty of life. Accept yourself, this is self-growth.
Growing up is indeed a very sad thing, because in the process we will find that the real situation of life is different from what we have always believed.
The three Connor brothers and sisters once thought that their parents would be together forever, but they can only go to the result of legal separation. My brother once thought he could fly with a good guitar and a sprinter, but now he's just an addict who has nothing to do after dropping out of school. Rafina once thought she could follow her boyfriend to London to be a glamorous model, but she had no choice but to return to Dublin. So when I saw Eamon tell Connor to take Rafina to London to sign a record deal and come back and take them away, I really had mixed feelings.
"I thought" was really the saddest word growing up. The trees were too high in the way, and they retreated.
Young people are not afraid of the sky and earth. They want to make a career, want to save themselves and others, and want to resist life. . But after going through everything, we realized that these are impossible. A person cannot resist his life, he can only hide everything deeply, compromise with life, compromise with himself.
The heroine Rafina is my favorite character in the movie, because only her experience reflects the complete growth process of a person. When she had to come back from London disgraced, "This is my life, working at McDonald's, hanging out with 15-year-old boys", when she listened to Connor wrote her "To Find You", a person While sitting on a park bench and crying, I suddenly felt the three-dimensionality of this character and its inner tension.
That's the helplessness that everyone encounters when they grow up. The girl full of expectations felt the helplessness and cruelty of fate, but Connor was still singing "I don't believe in fate" in the song. This still naive emotion and fiery and the girl's confusion formed a strong impact, making her struggle in the contradiction of struggle and compromise, and couldn't help crying.
It's not that there are no dreams, it's not that there's no effort, it's just powerless. Those middle-aged people who grab a lot on the street and are overwhelmed by life, who have not been teenagers and girls with dreams and unrestrained publicity?
This kind of powerlessness is heartbreaking, but this is real life, isn't it?
May the light of youth and dreams be the medicine to heal life
After talking about worry, let’s talk about joy. Most of the movie reviews have already mentioned the specific plot, so I will briefly talk about my own feelings.
"Sing Street" is a youth musical comedy, but it is also very realistic about the sadness of growing up and living. I think the director may not have thought so much when he was creating, maybe he was simply recording a real world, recording everyone's real happy-sad.
Therefore, although I focus on worry, it does not mean that those previous dreams and efforts are meaningless. On the contrary, every experience in growing up, whether it is joy or sorrow, will become an inseparable part of our life.
Be happy with your sadness, that's what love feels, that's happy-sad.
For Connor, the courage he mustered to meet the person he fell in love with at first sight, those moments of hiding in the room with his close relatives and listening to music, those days and nights when he suddenly got inspired to write a song after discussing with his brother, those days and nights when he was with the band The experience of rehearsing and performing together with the members is the light in his future life, giving him comfort at every crossroads in his life.
My favorite part is the return trip after the band and Rafina filming the MV at the beach. The boys and girls are smiling at each other in their seats, the sun shines on their faces, and the silhouettes sway along with the tram. In ordinary years, it is very precious to have such a beautiful and touching moment.
In the easter egg of the movie, several elderly people who are already very old can be heard singing the first song written by the band together. The biggest possibility is that when they are old, they can still get together and sing the songs of their youth. Whether this scenario is real or a fantasy, and no matter where Connor will go after his youth ends, it's enough to show that this beautiful memory can heal the pain in his life and provide him with a face at any time. Courage to live.
There is only one true heroism in the world, and that is knowing the truth of life and still loving it. We are just the vast majority of ordinary people, and we cannot escape all the happy-sads in life. I only hope that the light of youth and dreams can become a good medicine to heal life and accompany us every lonely night.
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