Northern Soul

Freestyle Releasing | Release Date: October 2, 2015

6.3	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 6 Ratings

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DawdlingPoetNov 23, 2021

This is an energetic youthful adolescence based drama film, with some comedy present. It covers themes including self expression, independence, rebellion and identity. It is quite gritty and doesn't just show things from an entirely positiveThis is an energetic youthful adolescence based drama film, with some comedy present. It covers themes including self expression, independence, rebellion and identity. It is quite gritty and doesn't just show things from an entirely positive light, which I see as being a good thing.

This film features some jerky camerawork, with some scenes seeming to show almost constantly moving/changing camera angles - its not very smooth camerawise, put it that way. Rather than switching between many different cameras pointed at different angles, the film often relies on one camera constantly moving about to show the characters movements and so on. Of course its relatively frenetic during scenes of the clubs, so in a sense its to be expected but I feel it gave the film more of an 'indie'/budget feel to it which was possibly done on purpose to give it more of a chance of potentially becoming a cult favourite of the future, at a guess(?). I thought it seemed relatively realistic and it certainly doesn't come across as a patronising film, one made by adults trying to guess at what the teens at the time its based on (the 1970s) were like and so on. Its a British film, so it goes without saying that its not Hollywood-ised either.

I think if I had to describe this film in one word, it'd have to be energetic (certainly either energetic or vibrant) the characters are all quite assertive and extroverted, loud and unafraid to speak their mind, no matter the consequences it should be added. I felt the characters were well portrayed - while their rude and some are quite aggressive, it was relatively easy to see that they were a product of the economical times they were in, with signs of potentially poverty being clear to see. For the record (no pun intended!) the cast includes Elliot James Langridge as John Clark, Jack Gordon as Sean, Antonia Thomas as Angela and Steve Coogan as Mr. Banks (Johns teacher), John Thomson as Terry and Ricky Tomlinson as John's Grandad. Lisa Stansfield (the 1980s/1990s singer) also appears, portraying John's mum. I wouldn't say anyone especially stood out as giving an outstanding performance but neither did anyones seem wooden or otherwise clearly fake or forced, so I can't really criticise the cast. Content wise, the film includes strong language used almost constantly, plus sex and drug references throughout (including short scenes depicting people taking drugs by needle, although I wouldn't say that this film clearly glamorises drug taking as such). There is only a mild element or presence of violence in the film, mostly short lived fisticuff style scuffles between different characters. You could say its a rather urban film, I suppose. The film carries a 15 rating to reflect this content.

Of course the soundtrack plays a big part in a music based film of this type. There are a lot of northern soul tunes played during the film, which include 'I'm Comin' Home in the Morning' by Lou Pride, Back Street performaned by Edwin Starr, Time performed bt Edwin Starr, Soul Time performed by Shirley Ellis and The Night performed by Frankie Valli, among others.

I felt this film had been well written and features a decent cast. I enjoyed both watching and listening to it, film and music wise and would say this is generally a pretty decent film.

Yes I'd recommend this film as I felt it was quite vibrant and it didn't shy away from showing the negative sides of things. The cast give decent enough performances and the plot was pretty well paced overall - the camerawork is a bit shaky/jerky which might put some people off but I was quite glued to the screen pretty much throughout and at about an hour and 45 minutes long, its quite a good way to spend your time if your interested in the subject matter of course.… Expand

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