The Commitments
Published August 26, 2016
Film info
- Title The Commitments
- Director Alan Parker
- Year 1991
- Run time 1hr 58m
- Genres Music, Comedy, Drama
- Tagline They had nothing to lose, they risked it all
In the northside of Dublin, Jimmy Rabbitte aspires to manage the world's greatest band, with only one music in mind: soul. By advertising for applicants in a newspaper and asking around to promising acquaintances, Jimmy holds auditions at his parents' home and assembles a band together. Unlike his idols, Jimmy's band is white. With the help of Joey 'The Lips' Fagan, a veteran musician who answers the ad and joins the band and who has unlikely stories about meeting and working with famous musicians, Jimmy begins to whip the members into shape - gradually coming together beautifully onstage, only to have the group fall apart in a clash of egos.
Live blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 1:31 | You can only get away with long credits like this when they have a good tune over the top! |
| 3:17 | How do you play guitar with a Guinness in your hand? |
| 5:35 | “Stay in the groove!” Oof, worst wedding singer ever. |
| 7:04 | Eedjit. |
| 12:47 | Auditions montages are always fun. They don’t always have river dancing in the kitchen. |
| 14;52 | Counting the U2 references, two so far. |
| 18:46 | That’s a bus car wash, could there be anything more scary? |
| 28:50 | There’s an awful lot of people in this band. It’s like Blazing Squad. |
| 35:15 | You can’t lift a piano up the stairs like that! |
| 44:32 | Do horses like lifts? |
| 47:44 | It’s a lot of egos to manage. |
| 53:19 | So many feral children. |
| 58:10 | Two packets of crisps and two cokes for a pound? Bargain! |
| 1:01:22 | Mmm, raining in Dublin. Aww, I miss it. |
| 1:07:43 | Bahtroom is pronounced bathroom, and I think they are two very different things. |
| 1:14:31 | And Mr C has cracked open the Guinness. |
| 1:18:47 | Ha, I like the mid-confession corrections. |
| 1:24:08 | Gorillas of soul. |
| 1:37:08 | I think they’re a better band without Dekko. |
| 1:52:34 | “He won’t let her sing anymore.” Oof, people. |
Conclusions
Mr C has been wanting me to watch this for a while but my background in music wasn’t good enough to make it worth while. With my album adventure upping my musical knowledge, we figured now was as good a time as any. I was nervous about the film, as I am with any that I know people have expectations about, but as soon as I realised it was set in Dublin, I was keen.
It takes a minute or two to adjust to the strong accents, the grimy settings and the neverending supply of children milling about, but once you’re immersed in the world, it’s brilliant. Very funny whilst also being subtle in its humour, it’s a good story and fascinating to watch these disparate characters trying to get along for the sake of the music.
I loved the film but was disappointed in the ending only because it made me sad that things didn’t quite work out. Still, from now on, I think I might start being interviewed by Terry too.
Rating: 5/5.
Rating: 5 / 5