Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

magdalenahallepape I am not a big fan of the Proclamers, but the movie really made the best out of it. Most of the actors sing really well. George MacKay is absolutely awesome and although I have never been there, I fell in love with Edinburgh. As a foreigner I especially loved the accents of the different actors. The only thing which made me give eight instead of ten stars is the plot, because although it is obviously a love story, so not something where you expect action, I thought that not much happened all together. Still it is a nice movie maybe for Sunday afternoons and I would recommend it to other musical fans but also to romantics.

Mickey Z I came into this film knowing pretty much next to nothing about it -- I do remember that one Proclaimers song from the 80s, of course. Mostly I wanted to watch Freya Mavor again, having recently seen her in "La Dame dans l'auto avec des lunettes et un fusil." If there has ever been anyone born to be on the big screen, it's Freya Mavor.Of course, the super-added bonus was discovering that Antonia Thomas is in the film too. I didn't know any of the other actors -- I'm not Scottish -- and I question some of the casting, mostly because their singing voices (I'm assuming everyone sang their own part) aren't up to par. But Mavor and Thomas are quite capable of carrying the movie on their own. Both are luminous.Now, if you're looking for a unique and unexpected story, don't bother. You won't get it from this film, which pretty much hits every generic romantic comedy/musical theater cliché.But this hardly matters, as the cast -- and all the extras -- obviously are enjoying themselves immensely. Their enthusiasm comes through loud and clear and the pleasure and pride of everyone involved becomes part of the storyline, perfectly setting up the final scene.And that final scene is one of the absolute best rom-com/musical payoffs I've ever seen. Heck, I actually started tearing up over it, it was that well-done. The movie is worth it just to reach that moment. Perfect!

g-white723 I am part of a film club and this film was sent to me in error (it should have been American Hustle), but, hey I quite like the Proclaimers, so what the heck I watched it.Big mistake. This was a bad film for many reasons, but I feel guilty slagging it off, so I will try to be fair. On the good side I thought the young lads playing the soldiers were pretty good, and Edinburgh, where the film is set, was majestic. There was even some cheeky humour in the film with appearances from the Proclaimers, and a sly reference to the film Trainspotting, but the script was dreadful, and singing was cringe-worthy. How could you murder a song like Sunshine on Leith? They managed to on this film. The song 'Its over and done with' was quite appropriate for this film. It was the song that perfectly summed up my thoughts after the film.The problem really, although I never really thought of it when I listen to the Proclaimers, is how sentimental this is. It was sickly sweet to begin with and then I just didn't care about the story. The Proclaimers are quite a political band with the roots in nationalist politics. That didn't seem to come through just more and more schmaltz.As the film ended it occurred to me that when you make a bad musical it is worse than a bad film because it is more memorable for the wrong reasons. This film falls into that category.3/10

david-meldrum Sometimes being predictable can be a good thing. My wife and I were in celebratory mood having received some long-awaited good news. We believe in marking the good things in life, so we decided on a movie (not exactly unusual for us, I guess) and a bite to eat after. So off we headed to Cape Town's finest cinema, one of the very few independents left in the country, for Sunshine On Leith; a British film finally on a limited South African release, several months after it arrived in British cinema. It's a musical. Based on a stage show; which in turn was based around the songbook of Scottish pop duo The Proclaimers. The musical is itself a family drama/love story set around the return of two soldiers from service in Afghanistan; it is, of course, set in a beautifully shot Edinburgh, as much attention given to obscure back-alleys as it is to sweeping skylines. The film's helped by some fine casting - Peter Mullan and Jane Horrocks adding heavyweight talent to proceedings as the parents; the rest of the cast can all sing more than well enough, and look as comfortable acting as they are singing. It helps, of course, that the songs are near perfect of their type, and with their folk inflected tone fit naturally into a storytelling structure. The context some songs end up with may be obvious a mile off, but no less the worse for it - what you're imagining right now about Letter From America, for instance, is almost certainly right on the money.Ultimately insubstantial as it is, the film is an addictive and life-affirming smile. I'm sure there are people who won't enjoy it, and this may be my celebratory mood talking, but I find it hard to imagine how you end up in such a place with this film. The cast and director give themselves so entirely to the project that you're swept-along on a tide of good feeling and well-wishing. It's a joy, from start to finish.