In 2011 actor-turned-director Dexter Fletcher hugely impressed with his debut feature film Wild Bill. A surprisingly emotional take on the Brit gangster flick, it cemented him as a filmmaking talent to keep an eye on. Now he’s followed that initial success with the hugely enjoyable musical Sunshine on Leith, one that gives new meaning to the overused phrase “the feel good film of the year.”
Based on the musical of the same name which is itself based around the music of Scottish duo The Proclaimers, the film tells the story of Davy (George MacKay) and Ally (Kevin Guthrie), two former soldiers who return home from Afghanistan to their life in Edinburgh. The two of them struggle in their own ways to reintegrate back into their previous lives with their family and respective relationships.
Such is the case with a lot of musicals, Sunshine on Leith isn’t exactly what you would call subtle. Even outside of its bursting into song – a long-standing trope of the genre that you just have to accept or you’re never going to enjoy it – the small-scale, intimate day-to-day drama of the two soldiers trying their best to get on with their lives out of the army is pulled off with broad brush strokes, very much wearing its heart on its sleeve as it hits you over the head with its arguably cheesy message about appreciating those around you and not letting true love slip away almost as hard as it tries to warm your heart. But does that really matter when the effect is so, well, effective?
The constant glass-is-half-full nature of the film works in large part thanks to honest performances from its cast, familiar and new faces alike, who are all clearly having a ball belting out those recognisable songs. Veterans Peter Mullan and Jane Horrocks provide supporting weight to the cast as Davy’s parents while relative newcomers MacKay and Guthrie are sparky, utterly likeable presences that help carry the film. There’s not a wrong note, pardon the pun, from a cast who truly give it their all.
Working from a script by Stephen Greenhorn, Fletcher, along with his excellent cast, does a great job to make us truly care about these characters despite the familiar drama that punctuates the plot. Anyone who knows even a few of The Proclaimers’ songs will know the story beats – for example, you know someone is going to plan a trip to America so the film can work in the song “Letters From America” and there’s no points for guessing which song serves as the inevitable big finale – but that’s part of the film’s charm, of which it oozes plentifully. You’d be hard pressed not to get caught up in the joyous singing that begs for your to join in (or at least mouth along to!).
The film represents a welcome alternative in Scottish cinema that has so often been associated with portrayals of misery and crime (it couldn’t be further away from the recent unashamedly vulgar Filth, for example), setting up camp at the total opposite end of the spectrum where the outlook is sunny and the atmosphere jolly in order to send you out of the cinema with a big smile on your face. It’s not going to win any points for nuance but what it lacks in subtlety it more than makes for with buckets of heart and soul.
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