Film

Sing Street

John Carney's love letter to teenage reinvention: a shy Dublin kid starts a band purely to impress a girl, and along the way discovers who he actually wants to be. It's funny, tender, drenched in synth-pop pastiche, and unashamedly romantic about the power of a good song and a bad haircut. Warm, propulsive, and built for anyone who ever formed a band to solve a personal crisis.

TMDb rating3.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like coming-of-age stories where the teenage plan is ridiculous, the songs carry the emotion, and the home life is rough but never bleak.

Skip it if you find the 1980s pop-video styling and romantic daydreaming wearing thin, or you want a film that stays grounded rather than leaning on crowd-pleasing charm.

What it asks of you: It runs a brisk 105 minutes, swapping scrappy comedy for tender drama, and rewards you for paying attention to the music.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Almost Famous2000

Cameron Crowe's own coming-of-age-through-music story, following a teenager who talks his way onto tour with a rising rock band. Same wide-eyed wonder about what music can do to a life.

But It's more wistful than triumphant, and the pacing meanders through its two-hour runtime in a way Sing Street never does.

Almost Famous poster

The School of Rock2003

Jack Black at his most gloriously unhinged, teaching a class of uptight kids that music is a legitimate escape hatch from boring, disappointing adulthood. Pure, uncomplicated joy.

But It's broader and goofier, with none of Sing Street's ache — this is comedy first, coming-of-age second.

The School of Rock poster

The Commitments1991

Also Dublin, also a scrappy band assembled from nothing, also gorgeously funny about Irish working-class ambition and ego. The chaotic band-meeting scenes alone are worth it.

But Rowdier, sweatier, and less romantic — this is soul music and squabbling, not synth-pop and first love.

The Commitments poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Sing Street

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

This Is England2007

Both films are about a boy without a stable father figure remaking himself through a scene — the clothes, the haircut, the borrowed swagger — led by an older brother-type he idolises. Sing Street's Brendan is generous where This Is England's Combo is a predator, but the mechanism, a kid assembling a self from someone else's record collection, is identical. This is what happens when that mentor is the wrong one.

Shane Meadows' story of a lonely, fatherless kid pulled into a subculture by an older, magnetic figure who reshapes how he dresses, talks, and sees himself. Music and clothes as identity, exactly like Cosmo's transformation — except here the mentor is dangerous rather than kind.

But It curdles fast and hard, moving from skinhead camaraderie into racism and violence with no warning and no comfort at the end.

This Is England poster

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Recommended by

The Banshees of Inisherin, Brooklyn, Billy Elliot, Almost Famous, The Commitments, The Karate Kid, CODA, The Greatest Showman, A Hard Day's Night, Minions, That Thing You Do!, Yesterday, Once, Rock of Ages, Fisherman's Friends, The Boat That Rocked, 24 Hour Party People, Belfast, Begin Again, Good Vibrations, Pitch Perfect, Blinded by the Light, The Sapphires, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Linda Linda Linda, Magic Mike XXL, Sassy Go Go, Dirty Grandpa, Carole & Tuesday, We Are the Best!, Sing 2, Come as You Are, Benidorm, Joyride, Instructions Not Included, School of Rock, The X Factor, Killing Bono, The Last of the High Kings, Katy Keene, Handsome Devil, Yellow Rose, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, God Help the Girl, I Can Only Imagine, Everybody's Talking About Jamie, Raise Your Voice, The Myth of the American Sleepover, Lakelands, The Swordsman, Dream High, Camp Rock, The Inbetweeners 2, Drunk Bus, I Used to Be Famous, Patti Cake$, A Little Thing Called Love, Pulse: A Stomp Odyssey