Hunky Dory

Excellent, Underrated Gem, Outstanding Music
Loved, loved this JEWEL of a film. The kids were all so real, the musical numbers, inspiring. The problems and growing pains the kids are facing are universal, so I don't know of any group or demographic that would not be able to relate to this slice of high school life piece from an albeit more innocent time. This Aneurin Barnard kid blew me away. His voice is sublime. I bought the soundtrack too, and his rendition of The Who's Love Reign O'er Me is chilling; although it was left out of the film, it's the best track and those vocals are in another stratosphere. Minnie was her usual adorable, sassy self. Evocative cinematography, you really feel you are in the midst of a heatwave ca. Summer of 1976. I just loved the kids singing The Man Who Sold the World too (Bowie). OUTSTANDING.

Quirky magic
This film has Minnie Driver at her best, a charismatic maverick producing a new twist on Shakespeare as a school play. The odd hip-ness of the 70s, the music, the social clashes and colorful sets are rich stuff. Adolescent tantrums and romances occur onstage and off; and are not limited to the adolescents. What a delightful surprise!

Sexism, Bad Fashion, Hormones and Glam Rock in 1976 Wales.
This brilliant film from Wales is set in the long hot summer of 1976, when we had it like the Mediterranean every day for months (except in Ireland where it pelted down and I had to go for a `holiday'). We meet Vivienne May (Minnie Driver) who has returned from a failed career in London to become a teacher at a not so progressive South Wales school. She is one of those teachers who feel you should get more from education than just a tick box mentality to passing exams. And as such she wants to encourage the kids to `express' themselves.

In order to help in this process, she intends to put on the school musical, and she chooses Shakespeare's `The Tempest', but with up to date and `with it' music such as Bowie, Roxy, Music and ELO. I was intrigued straight away especially with a very school like version of `Life on Mars' with a xylophone and jars filled with differing amounts of water - brilliant. Well her efforts are received with mild disfavour to outright hostility. The...

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