Sing Street

In 1980s Dublin, a teenage boy (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), tired of being bullied—from both ends, as it were, by priests and other students at his school—and eager to impress a mysterious girl he meets (Lucy Boynton), impulsively decides to form a band. Writer-director John Carney’s flippantly cheeky movie-musical echoes tales of the 1960s rise of bands like the Beatles and Rolling Stones: idle knockabout teens forming bands to pick up “birds,” then gradually, hit-or-miss, evolving a sound all their own. And there’s more than a hint of the anarchic, freewheeling spirit (and contagiously joyous music) of A Hard Day’s Night. The only drawback for American ears is the mumbled, almost impenetrable Irish accents (subtitles might help); otherwise, great fun, with a terrific euro-grunge soundtrack. J.L.