Northern Soul [DVD] [2014]

All good, maybecthe better of the two northern soul films just about....

The film,the dvd(blueray),has had many varied reviews,some good,some bad ,some indifferent.As a record of the Northern scene it does a good job of representing a snapshot of one persons experience at discovering and entering the "northern " scene.The music in the film was possibly the biggest draw for the soul fan ,but obviously every person will have an idea of THEIR own soundtrack to this era/genre,so praising or slating the choices made are pretty irrelevant.Negative reviews complain about various aspects of which ill put my take on it.SWEARING: Who,d have thought that young working class northern youth would swear so often....get a grip people,I believe it would have been strange to have none,if the people who supposedly stopped watching because it was ,and i quote "too gritty",read the films classification of 18,surely it was to be expected,stick to strictly ballroom next time.DRUGS: Some say its spot on ,some say "my crowd never did that"...again reviewers are trying to match the film with their own,if any,experience of the Northern scene,not the directors ,writers story..Drugs ,did play a large part of the 60s mod soul scene right through the 70s at the Northern and Midland soul venues through the 80s scooter rally allnighters and onward.Some people used,some didn't. If.If the film just showed people dancing to soul for an hour and a half it would be restrictive to a wider none soul loving audience,some elements of drama need to be included,drugs,sex ,fights,police chases,whatever,and for the record MY personal Northern experience and that of my "crew" have included and surpassed many of these ingredients.Drugs also played a huge part,as in the rave/dance scene in getting these venues closed down by police and councils so was probably correct to include in the story line..better than a Mary Poppins sanitised version. .TOO NORTHERN:some complain that they say northern soul too much,thus coming from the north they should say just soul,,really,,all soul isn't Northern soul,Northern soul has a particular sound,signature,feel ,whatever..That was the label given so a dj could play a soul track and a Northern track,they would sound pretty different on the whole for instance comparing James Browns "Papas got a brand new bag" to Tobi Legends sublime "Time will pass you by".Another point,yes Northern was played in many places with various club/pub DJs playing a bit of northern in their sets or even allnighters at different venues around the country.This film centers on Wigan Casino as it is known as THE Northern soul venue,of course Blackpool Mecca,The golden torch,The twisted wheel,The catacombs etc were also well known venues,and as various other places tried to latch on to an,at the time ,thriving scene,many alternative nights would crop up..as they still do..The film isn't about these places,it centers on Wigan as this was the directors experiences and what most people recognize or have heard of.Remember the film needs to cater for a wider audience,not just soulies to be successful.The story centers on a young disaffected youth who discovers Northern soul and his experiences in trying to reach America to find undiscovered records to become a dj and open his and his mates own club.Yes the story wont appeal to everyone but I enjoyed the grittiness,realism and overall feel of the film.I personally would have liked a slightly different take as it seems in a very short time he went from a shy,withdrawn lad into a great dancer,Record seller,DJ,drug taking cool guy...a little more time showing this journey rather than little flashback sequences would have fleshed his character out.The relatively unknown cast do a great ,believable job in portraying their characters and are quite believable.I think expectations for this film were high after the long production time and although it is a very good film it does fall a bit short.The conclusion of the story never really happened(one reviewer hopes for a sequel...not another 10 years i hope).Yes the middle drug centered story line could have been cropped to allow for a more cinema pleasing ending,judging by the short "making of" which features a few scenes which were obviously cut,concessions were made..BUT.. this film is the brainchild,passion of one woman who gave her all to get this movie done,not perfect sure,but she should be applauded for keeping the torch burning.What really disappointed me was the Blueray release,which i expect is the same on dvd.No music only track ,no subtitles,no sound options,no extras just a making of featurette.Now I know it wasnt a big budget release but in this day and age ,ten years in the making,surely there was loads of time and space for extras..bloopers..mini soul documentary about the scene.cast biogs,auditions,discography,soundtrack etc ,etc...what this media was made for...I think the picture quality was good,some say lighting was poor,but portraying a dark sweaty dance hall cant be the easiest,and i thought it was fine..If you go into this film expecting YOUR story or experience to match and it doesn't,it is hardly the films fault,and i feel its unfair to down rate it because of this.This is one woman's experience /take on her scene.If you complain about sex,drugs,swearing,then don't buy an 18 rated film.If your favorites don't match the films soundtrack,again unfair to criticize the film.Out of the 1000s of northern tracks i own even the films official soundtrack cd is going to have some major omissions from my all time Northern list As a side note, I was pleased they didn't go with the Northern soul by numbers cop out of using tracks like "the snake" , "interplay" and the like which every scooter do,club dj etc play ALL the time,so kudos on using some real monsters in the film...so to round up..A good slice of nostalgia which equals This is England and Quadrophenia in authenticity,with a good soundtrack but like the prementioned maybe suffers from highlighting the negative ,more sensationalist aspects of their respective scenes..as most cinema does.Lazy dvd /blueray release,not even a booklet..lets hope on top of the vinyl soundtrack/book collectors set ,an extended deluxe type set is released..8 out of 10..good but not perfect.

Great film...

A young, troubled and unhappy boy meets a stranger one day who likes a particular genre of music. The friend introduces him to the hitherto unknown to him music and then, in what seems like 30 minutes, he's wearing all the clothes, and subsequenly chucking himself all over the place and becoming the best dancer on the dance floor. In this short period of time he also looks for and finds the best looking woman on the dancefloor. In the process, there's a few wacky scrapes along the way but ultimately he gets the girl and redemption.As shown above, 'Northern Soul' as a plot isn't at all ambitious or new. It could easily have been Billy Elliot 2, Soulboy (with drugs) or even a dirtier Dirty Dancing. If it wasn't for the fact it features a fantastic musical genre little shown in films, I doubt 'NS' would ever have been produced or even liked by NS fans.As a film it is so obviously low-budget. This isn't a dig at Elaine Constantine because it's an achievement to get a niche film onto the big screen in the first place, but it does effect the quality of this film. In one situation, for example, where there's a car accident, it's so obviously done so as to not wreck the vintage car that instead of following a key part of the film I'm thinking about the car! Every scene seems to have been shot as cheaply as possibly The slow unimaginative plot line isn't helped by some exceptionally poor casting (aside from the main actor) and a script that looks like it's emerged from a media studies course. Fair enough for Steve Coogan, Ricky Tomlinson and Vic Reeves to turn up and support UK film, but all are miscast and offer nothing. Coogan is unconvincing as a teacher and Reeves looks like we wished he'd had more lines other than to make a few expressions. As for Ricky T's Grandad, the speed at which the central character gets over the former's demise makes you wonder if they was a better way of showing the family break up and the sudden NS fetish. All three celebs are chucked in early in the film and seem to be just there to get the film bought by as many as possible. And the less said about the wooden, truly embarrassing Lisa Stansfield the better!All this wouldn't matter for NS buffs if the music carried it through. To some extent, it works. There's some great tunes to be heard all through the film, and some of the dance moves are amazing. However, I was a bit surprised at how the dancing took a back seat to the drug use (again acted incredibly badly!), which is basically the main driving force of the music. The key point is this is not a film about Northern Soul - the music. It's a film about Northern Soul - the druggies. Perhaps Elaine should've had a better title for the film to highlight this distinction. Basically it's Soul Boy - The XL Drug Version.This film is only of any interest to anyone who a) lived in Northern England in the 1970s b) took loads of drugs themselves at the time to get through it or hung around with people that did. For all those who liked NS, but don't fit in this categories, the plot, script and acting makes it just about watchable but hardly memorable experience. I doubt it'll attract anybody new to the genre.I probably sound a bit harsh and I should be grateful (as I was when Soulboy was released) that an NS film has been made, but I honestly feel it was a missed opportunity to put something fresh and exciting out there. It feels disappointing.Keep the faith!