A lovely touching coming-of-age rom-com with some welcome astringent elements. The lead character's fractured family has to send him to a grim Christian Brothers school where he joins up with other ' outcasts' and forms a band...as he told a girl whom he fell for that he had one. The setting is the early 80's and as the story u folds we see and hear the various songs that they write that both recall the classic bands of the period...Duran Duran, Ah-ha etc etc..and yet are original. ( The film maker originally made his mark with Only, btw, but I'm not sure he didn't write the music too). There is also the joy of seeing them appear at various stages at school reflecting the particular band they have been most recently listening to.
The story unfolds well at a good pace and white cinematically it's not original or particularly stylish if distinctive, it does need to be. The story is just told well and effectively.
A favourite scene was a lovely fantasy tribute to the Prom scene of Back to the Future.
The ending IS to be honest, pretty schmaltzy...but it (just) worked even with the transformation of the central bully figure.
Anyway super film. Go see