Northern Soul (2014)

Excellent British drama directed by Elaine Constantine. 

Two Lancashire teenagers discover Northern Soul music and dedicate their lives to the pursuit of it, hunting down obscure seven-inch singles and dancing the nights away on amphetamines as an escape from the oppressive traps of family and education. 

In some ways, it’s like an English Saturday Night Fever. It’s a perfect evocation of the grimy, gritty, dour aspects of the early 1970s. Everything looks convincingly grubby and horrible. Most of the film is really dark, to the extent that it’s sometimes difficult to see what’s happening. 

Elliot James Langridge is superb as the alienated John, who finds a meaning to life in the sweaty clubs away from the pressures of his parents (Lisa Stansfield plays his mother) and teachers (Steve Coogan plays the unpleasant Mr. Banks). 

The music sounds fantastic – twitchy and energised – and the film has real energy.

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