By Sabrina Golling.
“Problem is, you’re not happy being sad. That’s what love is, Cosmo. Happy-sad.” – Raphina
And that’s what Cosmo (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) is: happy-sad.
It’s a feeling of subtlety, of emotional confusion and overwhelming uncertainty. And to be honest, that’s what this movie is filled with. With plenty of poppy, fun tracks and lighthearted jokes, the movie has a feeling of background optimism throughout, but no one can disguise or change the frustration and sadness felt by the main character, Conor (aka Cosmo), when he’s confronted with teenage drama after teenage drama.
The 1980s in Dublin weren’t easy for anyone, let alone the young people of the time. It’s hard enough being 15, but to compound his issues Cosmo’s family is facing financial uncertainty and a mom and dad’s rocky marriage eventually turned separation. With a stoner older brother (Jack Reynor) who’s already given up on any conventional path to success, Cosmo’s parents have no choice but to save what money they can by transferring him out of his posh private school and into a rough-and-tumble Catholic school ruled by the iron-fisted Brother Baxter (Don Wycherley). Here he’s faced with a school-yard bully with problems at home, an oppressive administration that spends its time trying to suppress his teenage expression and rebellion, and the ultimate problem of the movie: his relationship with the beautiful and mysterious model who lives at the girls’ home across the street from the school, the way-out-of-his-league Raphina.
The movie gets its fun-loving and upbeat start when Cosmo makes a surprising move for the new kid at school and talks to Raphina while she stands across the street. Finding out that she’s a model and immediately coming up with a plan to get her number, Conor says he needs her help with his band’s new music video. After initially blowing him off, Raphina decides she’s intrigued enough to show up and encounters the band that Conor has barely managed to throw together – a motley crew in cowboy costumes and velvet suits, barely knowing how to play the instruments in front of them, with not a clue how to really even record.
It’s here that the movie really takes off. The ever-so-subtle humor keeps the group’s adventures fun and frivolous, though it’s clear that for just about all of them the band’s music is an escape from their lives otherwise filled with issues. Taking inspiration from the music of the time and his older brother Brandon, Conor writes song after song with references to his life and starts to feel more and more empowered as time goes on.
Even though nearly every character in the movie is damaged in some way, this movie still has an overall uplifting tone. Every teenager feels battered and broken by the world sometimes, but this coming-of-age story really concentrates on the optimism of the future and how looking back never really gets us what we want. With some wonderfully timed physical comedy in the form of Conor’s silly rockstar-emulating outfits and some great nostalgic jokes for those who fondly remember the time all paired with a soundtrack to die for and some relatively decent cinematography, the movie was overall a fun watch.
The acting was impressive for a bunch of breakout stars, the soundtrack was upbeat, the overall tone captured the complicated melancholy of puberty and I left the theatre wanting some of Cosmo’s music on my iPod. It might not have been the most artistic or wholly original film that Sundance ever hosted, but in the end it leaves audiences tapping their toes and feeling positive about the future.