The Fleur Theater comes through once again, the only chance in central Iowa to see the indie of the year, Sing Street [A Dublin band whose name makes a play on their Synge Street School]. The story of the new kid at school Cosmo. Being smitten by the molten Raphina, he tells her he is in a non-existent band.  Through a very entertaining series of events we see the need-based band he creates grow in music and image.

In real life Cosmo (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) is a trained opera singer, even though other than this movie his bio is blank. The musicianship is great throughout the film. So is the femme fatale Lucy Boynton, her resume has more heft. Director John Carney did well casting the bandmates. About 15 minutes in you realize Hollywood could never have made this movie. It is original and creative to the core.

The latest examples of the sum total of Hollywood’s creativity, the remakes of The Exorcist and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Yeah. Hollywood are like artists who keep painting the same picture time and again. No matter how great the Mona Lisa and Starry Night were, you need to move on. The craft kind of stops otherwise, doesn’t it? There’s no progression of the art. They are simply repeating what’s already been done.

The budget for Carney’s 2007 Once, was $200,000, the budget for this one couldn’t have been much more. Shot at a high school, a couple of houses, a couple of flats, the beach, what could that have cost?

In order to be good, a film either needs to have a great story, great cinematography or someone in the cast you care about. A great film has all 3 of these, and Sing Street did. One example of the cinematography was when they were coming home at night under this canopy of trees over the lane. Both leads were attractive. And the storyline of being true to oneself and realizing your dreams was a good one. This Irish film with no budget did something Hollywood could never be in a thousand years: creative.