Rent Northern Soul (2014)

A great period piece - Northern Soul review by TD

I respect the opinions of the previous reviewer, but totally disagree! I thought the acting was great, and feel that it is very much to Elliot James Langridge's credit that he left a "safe" job in Hollyoaks to work on this low budget movie that took such a long time to get off the ground. I can remember the fashions of that time (though I didn't partake!) and know that this was what much of the north of England was like in the seventies.

Awful film that goes precisely nowhere! - Northern Soul review by RL

I was looking forward to this film, expecting some kind of social documentary, with a bit of wit and bit of bite with a plot that actually went somewhere and had a point. Instead, I watched 102 minutes of awful acting, not an ounce of credibility in any of the characters and just about the most pointless script imaginable.

It was made all the worse by the fact that (but for Antonia Thomas as 'Angela') there is not a single character in this film that you would want to spend even a nano-second with! Ricky Tomlinson and Lisa Stansfield have little more than cameos and what was Steve Coogan thinking?!

I very rarely bother with reviews, but this was in the bottom five of all the films I have ever seen - I could have easily summed this up with one, single-syllable word.

Great British Social Drama - Northern Soul review by GI

This is a great British social drama set around a youth culture centred around a contemporary music following in the 1970s. So you can firstly expect an unbelievably good soundtrack in this film but also a compelling drama that is about isolation, friendship and self-discovery. John (Elliot James Langridge) is a loner and under achiever trapped in the education system of 1970s northern England. His path to finding a purpose in life comes from a chance meeting with the free spirited Matt (Josh Whitehouse) who introduces him to northern soul music and eventually to drugs. They are dreamers but the narrative is about how music becomes the conduit to freedom and redemption via teenage rebellion. There's a host of great characters to be found here and whilst the story will be familiar from other similar dramas it is great entertainment. The influence of Ken Loach and films like The Commitments (1991) is evident in what is an interesting and ultimately feel good film.