Line #6 Film/SingStreet


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sing_street_xxlg_500x500.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:320:Boy Meets Girl. Girl Unimpressed. Boy Starts Band.]]
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4	''Sing Street'' is a 2016 Irish musical comedy-drama film directed written and produced by John Carney.
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6	In [[TheEighties 1985]] UsefulNotes/{{Dublin}}, 15-year-old Conor Lalor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo)'s family is facing financial troubles that lead them to transfer him from a private Jesuit school to a publicly-funded [[ThisIsGonnaSuck Christian Brothers]] one where he forms a band to impress an arising model named Raphina (Lucy Boynton). The film's soundtrack features songs from the era by artists like Music/DuranDuran, Music/{{The Cure\|Band}}, Music/JoeJackson, and Music/DarylHallAndJohnOates.
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8	Creator/AidanGillen and Creator/MariaDoyleKennedy star as Conor's parents, and Jack Reynor as his older brother Brendan.
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11	!!Tropes used in this film:
12	* AbusiveParents: Barry has an alcoholic father who physically and emotionally abuses him. Raphina has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it line implying that [[spoiler: her father sexually abused her while her mother was committed]].
13	* TheAce: Eamon can play any instrument. Including xylophone and conga drums.
14	* AdvertisedExtra:
15	** Creator/AidanGillen and Creator/MariaDoyleKennedy barely feature in the film.
16	** Trailers made it seem as if Evan had a bigger part. While his influence is definitely there, he's offscreen for most of the film.
17	* AlbumIntroTrack: First track of the soundtrack is Brendan's "Rock n Roll is a risk" speech.
18	* AlliterativeTitle: '''S'''ing '''S'''treet
19	* AwfulWeddedLife: Conor's parents fight constantly. Brendan describes them as two youngsters who "got married just so they could have sex" and tired of each other quickly.
20	* BadassBystander: A random student prevents Brother Baxter from turning off the lights before a song about him gets played - by smashing the switches with a ''fire extinguisher''.
21	* BasementDweller: Brendan dropped out of college and is reduced to staying in his parents' house.
22	* BerserkButton: Brendan flips when Conor doubts his chances of quitting smoking pot and making something of his life.
23	* BigYes: Brendan gets one [[spoiler: when Conor and Raphina head out on the boat.]]
24	* BullyTurnedBuddy: Barry is the standard school bully who's giving Conor a hard time. Later on, though, he joins Conor as a roadie for his band and they become buddies.
25	* CoolTeacher: Implied with Conor's art teacher, who compliments him on the band and supervises a video shoot in the school. She's seen excitedly dancing at their gig.
26	* CoverVersion: Conor and his band Sing Street starts out by doing covers of popular songs during that time such as Rio by Music/DuranDuran. Brendan thinks they stink and gives the "Rock n Roll is a risk" speech to convince him to drop covers and develop an original style.
27	* {{Dedication}}: The film is dedicated "For brothers everywhere".
28	* DeliberateValuesDissonance:
29	** Barry says 'queer' and 'faggot' a lot in casual conversation, and Darren refers to Ngig as a "gollywog" - though the latter does get a disapproving response from Conor.
30	** None of the staff intervene with the rampant bullying that goes on in the schoolyard. Not to mention that Brother Baxter is able to get away with all sorts of abuse; clergy were the law in Ireland and it wasn't until the 90s that their influence finally waned.
31	** Conor's parents aren't able to divorce, as was illegal in Ireland until 1995. What's more is that they are described as only marrying just to be able to sleep together.
32	* DublinSkanger: Barry is presented as a low class scumbag, but played sympathetically due to his abusive father.
33	* DysfunctionJunction: Conor's parents fight all the time, the father does nothing but yell, the older brother Brendan has dropped out of college, and Conor himself is bullied at school. That's not to mention that Raphina lives in a home for girls, with her father dead and her mother in a mental hospital.
34	* EruditeStoner: Brendan sits in his room smoking weed most of the day, and plenty of musical-related wisdom comes out.
35	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The movie opens with Conor sitting in his room, strumming a guitar, and quietly singing improvised lyrics taken directly from his parents' loud marital spat.
36	* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Conor's hair changes as the film progresses, showing his interest in music.
37	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Conor's imagination has Raphina showing up to a HighSchoolDance at the last minute for a big romantic moment. [[spoiler: She actually does when they're performing at the disco]].
38	** The art teacher remarks about all the complicated boys and girls, a line that makes it into Sing Street's final song.
39	* FunnyBackgroundEvent:
40	** Rabbits throughout Eamon's house.
41	** A random passer-by stealing Conor's bike as he writes songs with Eamon.
42	** A student puking as Conor and Raphina leave the dance.
43	** Ngig slyly moving his keyboard closer to the centre of the shot during the first music video
44	* GoingColdTurkey: Brendan abruptly quits hash, and gets rather irritable as a result.
45	* GuyLiner: The band members use this as part of their makeup.
46	* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Barry is persuaded to become a roadie for the band]].
47	* HollywoodKiss: Averted during Conor and Raphina's first makeout session. She even makes him wait while she swallows a biscuit before going in for more.
48	* HufflepuffHouse: Brendan and Conor's sister Ann has minimal lines and abruptly vanishes after the parents announce they're splitting up.
49	* ICouldaBeenAContender: Brendan bemoans how many talents he had in his younger years, only to be set back and ruined by the disastrous family environment he was born into.
50	* ImagineSpot: Conor has a lengthy one when shooting the HighSchoolDance themed video. He imagines Raphina walking into a suddenly crowded dance, his parents happily dancing together, Brother Baxter joins the activities and gives his approval, and Brendan fighting off Evan (while dressed as Creator/JamesDean).
51	* ImprobablyCoolCar: Played with, or rather used to illustrate the Lalor family's financial decline. Not too long ago they could afford to buy a Mercedes, now they can barely afford to run it and it's under a tarp in the driveway for most of the movie.
52	* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: Brother Baxter is likely going to remain at his position abusing kids for several more years. But he does get some comeuppance in the form of Conor's song insulting him being performed in front of the entire school.
53	** Inverted with Conor's dad. He'll be getting all the architectural commissions he can handle in UsefulNotes/TheCelticTiger years, but by then it'll be too late to save his home, his marriage or his original plan for Conor's schooling.
54	* MiddleChildSyndrome: Ann's purpose seems to be ignored by her family, and even by the narrative itself.
55	* MoodWhiplash: A seemingly light-hearted scene of Brother Baxter being exasperated over Conor wearing make-up to school takes a hard U-turn [[spoiler: as Brother Baxter attacks Conor, drags him into the bathroom and forcibly washes it off his face]].
56	* MomentKiller: Lampshaded when after Conor and Raphina's first kiss, he mentions Evan. She playfully says he ruined it.
57	* NoEnding: [[spoiler: The movie ends with Conor and Raphina head out to sea, following the ferry across the rough Irish Sea to a new life in London. Will they make it?]]
58	* PercussiveShutdown: When the school principal attempts to stop the school dance by turning on the lights, Barry smashes the switch to keep it from happening.
59	* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: PlayedForLaughs with Darren. When he meets Ngig he speaks slowly, expecting him not to understand English. The boy snarkily responds that he's lived in Dublin most of his life.
60	* RedHerring: We're led to believe that Conor's poor exam result will lead to some third act conflict. But then the parents announce they're separating instead.
61	* SadistTeacher: Brother Baxter. [[spoiler: Very strict about the black shoe policy and intolerant of students wearing makeup]].
62	* ShooOutTheClowns: The tone of the movie gets notably more serious after [[spoiler: Conor's parents decide to split.]]
63	* ShoutOut:
64	** The video filmed in the school is staged as an homage to ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture''.
65	** During Conor's fantasy, Brendan comes in dressed like James Dean and has a knife fight with Evan - a nod to ''Film/RebelWithoutACause''.
66	** Sing Street's style and musical direction is greatly influenced by whatever bands Conor and Eamon listened to most recently. For starters, "The Riddle of the Model" sees them imitating Music/DuranDuran, "A Beautiful Sea" carries a heavy Music/{{The Cure\|Band}} influence, and "Drive It Like You Stole It" follows the lead of Music/DarylHallAndJohnOates.
67	** Other artists from the period get references as well. Music/TheVillagePeople and Music/AdamAnt get referenced during the first video shoot, Brother Baxtor invokes Music/DavidBowie when he says "No more Ziggy Stardust", a slowed-down piano version of [[Music/AHa "Take On Me"]] plays at one point, and so on.
68	* SignificantWardrobeShift: After Raphina [[spoiler: returns from her departure with Evan, realising she won't go to London and she has no future]], she's changed out of her high-fashion outfits to a modest blue cardigan.
69	* SillyLoveSong: Up
70	* SleepingSingle: The last shot of Conor's parents is of mother in bed, and father in a sleeping bag on the floor.
71	* SuckySchool: Synge Street School was going through a phase of being one.
72	* TakeThat: [[spoiler:The song "Brown Shoes", which mocks Brother Baxter]].
73	* TitleDrop: Sing Street is the name of the band, taken from the school's name
74	* TokenMinority: Lampshaded when Darren suggests getting the only black guy in the area in their band. Luckily Ngig plays the keyboard.
75	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: As noted above, Conor's sister Ann vanishes in the third act and doesn't even get name-checked in the finale.
76	* WriteWhoYouKnow: In-universe. All of Conor's lyrics directly reference what's going on in his life.
77	* YoungerThanTheyLook: Raphina is only sixteen, but the way she does her hair, makeup and clothes makes her look several years older so that she'll get more attention for modeling. [[spoiler:When Conor bumps into her after she's apparently gone to London, she's not wearing makeup or chic clothes and looks almost younger than sixteen; she even tries to pass herself off as her own younger sister.]]
78	* YoungestChildWins: Discussed by Brendan in his rant, where he complains that Conor did the exact same things he did, but became a hero - whereas Brendan is a laughing stock.

Context Film / SingStreet