Good Vibrations
Director: Lisa Barros D’Sa, Glenn Leyburn
Cast: Richard Dormer, Jodie Whittaker, Liam Cunningham
Length: 103 minutes
Country: Ireland
Good Vibrations, the feel-good indie film of this year’s spring season has arrived at Warwick Arts Centre. Whether you managed to catch it or not, this film is definitely a must-see.
Set in 1970’s Belfast during the outbreak of the Irish Troubles, this film is essentially a biopic of Terri Hooley, also known as Belfast’s godfather of punk. It’s granted that the topic might be obscure to the wider cinema-going audience, but this film still manages to be moving, inspiring and fun at the same time. It’s a lively and emotional tribute to the life of the founder of the Good Vibrations record shop and label in Great Victoria Street.
Regardless of whether you are familiar with Hooley’s story or not, this film shows the pursuit of a man’s dream and gives a message of courage and hope to the masses. The story showed how even when the world around him was falling apart, he succeeded in creating a new space in which he could cultivate his passion for music and let his record collection thrive; two elements that are essential and dear to Hooley.
Richard Dormer inhabits the role of the Hooley comically and enthusiastically. A real highpoint in the story occurs when Hooley gets caught in the midst of a pogoing crowd at a gig and is subsequently converted to punk. However where Dormer’s performance really shines is in a scene where Hooley listens to The Undertones’ Teenage Kicks for the first time, immediately being captivated by their music.
It’s granted that the topic might be obscure to the wider cinema-going audience, but this film still manages to be moving, inspiring and fun at the same time
The reason a film about a couple of 70’s new wave bands from Northern Ireland resulted in success is due to it’s portrayal of Terri Hooley’s maverick attempt at realizing his dream. In the middle of a chaotic uprising while everyone else was starting to abandon all hope, Hooley had a revolutionary way of thinking and opened a record shop in a derelict and deserted street of town. This gave him much recognition among the local community of youths who flocked to the shop to buy his records and united to create a solid group of music lovers, thirsty for new thrilling experiences. From this motley crowd of kids The Outcasts were born, a group of rowdy and optimistic musicians whose dream, just like Hooley’s, was to bring a spirit of unity and peace to the streets of Belfast through music. Hooley supports this thought as he strives awareness for The Undertones; a once unknown band that comes pleading on his doorstep for a chance to secure a recording session.
As Hooley roams the streets of London in a vain effort to find a major record label that believes in his newly-discovered band, he comes to the sad and disillusioned realisation that sometimes in life we can be profoundly misunderstood by everyone around us. His wife Ruth, played by Jodie Whittaker, supports Hooley in his desperate endeavours. Whittaker’s performance is adequate enough for the sympathetic and lovable role. Unfortunately, the husband-wife team of directors, Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn, end up visualising the story in an unoriginal manner, resulting in filming choices and techniques that bring nothing new or experimental to the table.
The soundtrack is by far the best part of the film, as the carefree and rock’n’roll sound voices the rebellious nature of the youths that crowded Hooley’s Good Vibrations and the generational battle for a better Belfast, with less war and more love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DruhJkZU4EI
[kkstarratings]
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