Review by Holly Williams
Stars Martin Compston, Felicity Jones, Alfie Allen,
Nichola Burely, Craig Parkinson, Brian McCardie, Jo Hartley, Pat Shortt
Written by Jeff Williams | Runtime 82 minutes | Directed by Shimmy Marcus
Joe is a bored teenager, living in Stoke in the 1970s. After a chance encounter with an icily beautiful hairdresser he becomes desperate to impress, he discovers soul music and the life-changing town of, erm, Wigan – the unlikely setting for one of the greatest nightclubs of the era. After spending the working week lugging sacks of potatoes, Joe – played by a likeable Martin Compston - cuts loose at the Casino’s all-nighters.
A classic coming of age drama, he is, of course, rubbish and deeply uncool at the beginning before inevitably conquering the dancefloor – and the pill-pushing bad guys who stalk it. The love story is equally dot-to-dot predictable: when chasing the cool girl he ignores the real one under his nose (Mandy, a sweet, reserved performance from the lovely Felicity Jones), but we never really worry he’ll end up making the wrong choice.
This bland plotting, combined with some truly groan-inducing, bring out your clichés dialogue should mean the film is a write-off. And yet … it has a certain cheeky charm. The cast do the best they can with their clunky lines, and director Shimmy Marcus injects a real warmth for the characters, the period and the music scene. And the youth subculture of Northern Soul is a pretty good topic; there are some cracking dance sequences, as well as a soundtrack so infectious I could feel the row behind me tapping their toes.
The period detail also provides a dollop of grim-up-north social realism without straying into pastiche, meaning that as long as you're not hoping for any clever plot twists and just go with the dancing flow, this is a perfectly serviceable, if predictable, Brit drama.