New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
The first time I watched this film was with my parents and my sister when I was 12. I remember loving every single tune, outfit and wacky hair-do. Since then, Good Vibrations has been one of my favourite films ever. I was aware of the Troubles back then but after all I was 12, I didn't know a whole lot about it. I knew it was a bad time back then, so even thinking about it then made me grateful that I didn't have to live through it. As bad and scary I knew it was, when I watched Good Vibrations it made me realize the power of music. Whether you're Catholic or Protestant, music can make everyone come together as one and forget about all the controversy in a community, in a way music is a language we all speak.
Starring Richard Dormer as Terri Hooley, we follow him through a time of conflict in Northern Ireland. The time of rivalry was a dark period in Northern Ireland, that surprisingly not many people around the world know about. Terri opens a record shop in Belfast, in that same time he discovers Rudi, The Outcasts and The Undertones.
"Once upon a time in the city of Belfast, there lived a boy named Terry... with a y". The first scene takes place when Terri is a kid, living in a suburban household with his parents. His father being a socialist representative, Terri got some stick from the other kids in his street. They call Terri a "Commie bastard" as they shoot him in the eye with an arrow. "Then Terry, became Terry with an I". This is 2 minutes and 10 seconds into the film and already we know that this movie will be funny. The comedy in Good Vibrations isn't forced, it flows naturally. In some ways it's comedy that people from Northern Ireland will understand, just because some of the jokes in this film are about or around the topic of the Troubles. In the scene where Terri meets Rudi for the first time, he wants to make them a record because from that first glance on them playing on stage, you can just see the admiration in his eyes. Terri says to the band "I'll do it, I'll put it out". The band look at him and they say "You're pissed". Terri replies with a quick "So what". Little things like these in a script can really show the audience who the character really is, what their personality is like. Another band approaches him and asks "Will you record us too?" and Terri being Terri replies "I'm not that fuckin pissed". This is one of my favourite jokes of the whole film, it never fails to make me laugh.
Good Vibrations is set in the 70's therefore the cinematography really compliments the time period. There is a little bit of noise you can notice when watching the film, as well as the colour grading it really bringing out the oranges and yellows in the set design. There are clips of records being made in factory's from the 70's as well as real clips of the Troubles then which makes the film more authentic and it feels more real. There also seems to be a bit of a light fade on the clips, it could be thought into that perhaps they used a fade to create a some more realistic undertones *hint hint*... how dare I. One of my favourite (and of many) scenes in this film is when Terri listens to The Undertones first recording of Teenage Kicks. This scene can just fill you up with joy, especially if you grew up listening to this type of music. The scene at the end of the film where the crowd is at Ulster Hall and the bands are playing is such a powerful scene. All these people looking up at him, admiring him simply because he brought all these people together with the power of music. "New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!".
Good Vibrations sheds some light on the the war that was in Northern Ireland. The film is so inspiring for people who want to get into the music scene, and even for people who are interested in the film industry.
--24/06/20--
It has been a while since I last wrote on my blog. As this article was collecting dust in my drafts, The Lyric Theater Belfast uploaded onto YouTube a live performance of Good Vibrations which was only up for 24 hours for people to watch for free. And yes... I did watch it, and my goodness was it brilliant.
They made the show equally as lovable as the film with superb casting, a cracker soundtrack and bloody unreal stage design. I can't quite put into words how touched I was to watch this performance. I can only compliment the cast and crew for an amazing experience. Well done!
The Pink Soap Review Rating:
Film -10/10
Stage play - 10/10
