Most British people will recognise instantly the familiar setting of 1970s Northern England (Lancashire here, to be specific) used in Northern Soul. The cultural impacts from this era on Britain are vast – particularly in music. The breakup of The Beatles and the popularisation of punk rock served as the soundtrack for the paranoia of the Cold War and rising societal tensions – yet at the same time – the forwarding of minority protection in the strides made in gay rights and women’s liberation movements. One of the most iconic musical movements of this decade was the influx of Black American soul music, labelled ‘Northern Soul’ for its popularity in the Midlands and the North. This film of the same title as the song and dance movement follows two lads who escape the mundane bleakness of British life through their consumption of soul music (and quite a few drugs).
The lives of the working-class North during this time will be, of course, familiar to viewers who lived through the 70s and identify with that demographic. They will also be recognisable to anyone who has ventured into British cinema only slightly further than the Harry Potter, Paddington, and Cornetto Trilogy films through the acclaimed work of social-realism directors such as Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, who seem to be most successful (both critically and with general audiences) in portraying this particular group. This will probably work as the film’s greatest strength or one of its worst weaknesses for its viewers. For me, I side towards the latter. I imagine older viewers who grew up in the period perhaps watching with a sense of nostalgic fondness, but unfortunately, I was not a teen in the 1970s, so I do not find myself fully able to share it. Like how Quadrophenia is for rock fans, Northern Soul fans will find themselves represented by the characters who are themselves music fans (a ground-breaking theory, I know); this might help to distract them from the number of plots and how unsatisfactorily predictable each one is in this film. The film deals with everything from friendship to love to class, the underground DJ scene, the police, the British education system, coming-of-age, and countless other topics brought in. Each one is fulfilled precisely as how you would expect; each character feels like a one-sided caricature of a mild British stereotype (in the main character’s family alone we have the awkward teen who learns to rebel and slowly finds love, the nagging mother, the father who seems to give little more than two tosses, and of course, the ailing grandad). The script is painfully shallow and would give an alien newcomer to Earth the impression that the English just shout ‘Fookin come on’ every few minutes for dramatic effect. In fact, the best moments in this film – and there aren’t many ‘bad’ moments, more persistently mediocre ones I found – are the dance scenes where there is no dialogue, just the characters lost in the enchanting pull of the fantastic music being played. If you’re looking for just some (although predictable, and therefore somewhat mindless, I’d say) fun and entertainment with these characters and with this film – go for it. This film will serve you that, and you will have at the very least enjoyed watching people dance to good music as I have.
Thank you for reading.
MORTFILMS 