http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/21/11477490/sing-street-john-carney-interview-once-begin-again
He seems to almost regret that people see it as a sweet, literal ending.
I don't get why he's so bothered by that. And he goes on to say he kind of wishes he had killed off the characters.
Is John Carney that afraid of a happy ending?
Troll the respawn, Jeremy.
I think he just wants it to be open to interpretation and is throwing things out there so it can mean different things to different people.
Re: wishing they died, he references the people who embark on journeys like that and don't make it (i.e. refugees), so it seems as though he said it so as not to give the impression that he's making light of the circumstances.
I feel the "killing the characters" bit was kinda humorous exaggeration on his part. That would be a ridiculous ending.
I got the feeling from the article that he maybe wasn't upset about the ending, but rather just upset about people's interpretations of the ending.
He said:
"Well, I don’t see it just as a happy romantic ending. I think that’s the tone of the piece, but I think it’s more like… they’re setting off together, that’s true, but I wouldn’t say that’s some huge relationship that’s going to last forever. They’re kids. I sort of hope the scene at the end would look a little like a fantasy sequence. You’re supposed to wonder where the reality ends and the pop video begins. But people are actually taking it very seriously, and people are presuming it’s fully real, which is interesting. That wasn’t the intention."
That's exactly the interpretation I got from the ending, so personally speaking, I feel he already accomplished exactly what he wanted with the ending, even though some people will take it a bit too literally.
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I think there's actually a big tip-off in the final sequence that it's at least partly in Conor's head. In reality, the wake of a boat as big as the ferry is dangerous to a boat as small as Conor's. For that reason you would never follow directly in their wake, as they do at the very end. But doing so is symbolic of his following in his brother's "slipstream," so it would be part of Conor's imagined version of the sea crossing.
Prepare your minds for a new scale of physical, scientific values, gentlemen.share
That makes sense.
I fully believe that Conor and Raphina DID leave that morning, and I want to believe that things turned out well for them. But I agree the whole sequence feels almost like a fantasy.
But that doesn't mean what it's a fantastical representation of wasn't something real.
If that makes any sense.
I don't feel enough for you to cry.
Oh well.
I haven't read Carney's remarks, but I'll tell you my thoughts on the end of this film that I saw today for the second time in 24 hours.
I think it was real in the context of the film (unlike the gym scene), and the perfect reification of the happy-sad love idea. And it references (intentionally or not) the endings of many other great films: The Graduate, Key Largo (Bogie at the wheel of a boat, wounded but somehow alive and with a smile creeping up), The 400 Blows (kid, close to the age of Conor, facing the ocean)...
Sing Street is up the with John Hughes's best, in my opinion. I both want and don't want a sequel that checks in on these characters in a couple years.
I agree with your post, especially the misgivings about a sequel.
shareThanks. Here are some more of my thoughts, not about the ending but I don't have time to find the right thread. Obviously, Carney's great at showing songwriting process on film, but more than that in Sing Street he shows how often people are influenced by others, but this doesn't become a bone of contention. Conor gets the line "All the complicated boys and girls" from his art teacher. He gets the idea of taking Raphina to London himself from his friend Eammon. He lifts the rhythm for "Drive it like you stole it" from "Maneater" after his brother plays it for him and tells him to do just that. And of course, more obviously, he soaks up his brother's and Raphina's advice in general -- as well as the aesthetics pushed by Top of the Pops. Yet we're not left condemning him as being unoriginal; rather we see how all that organically blends into his and his friends' original creation.
I also loved the subtle ways that we're shown that the couple are right for each other, like where he asks if she's seen the video for "Thriller" and she says "Yeah" with a tone that's like "Of course -- what, do you think I'm stupid?!" and when he asks if she's seen "Back to the future" and, in contrast to the girls in the gym, she says "I see all the films." I also like the parts where things are left unsaid, like where she begins to maybe confess that her dad abused her and Conor look
Another great recent film about two people falling in love is the Argentenian one "Side Walls." It's sort of like a more dysfunctional "Amelie." Also, in one of my all-time favorites, Michael Winterbottom's "Wonderland," you can see a really satisfying "meet cute" at the tail-end of a sprawling Humanist kitchen sink drama.
s uncomfortable but doesn't say anything. A lesser (and more common film) would have made that a whole subplot. Some people here seem to think this film is unrealistic, but that moment felt more real than most Oscar-bait films from beginning to end. On the other hand, I also liked later, when they're talking in the park and she says something like "I guess this is my life now: working at McDonald's and hanging out with a 15 year-old kid," and he just walks away. That showed such maturity and character growth, to not get drawn into someone's self-pity party, even someone you're in love with.
I also liked later, when they're talking in the park and she says something like "I guess this is my life now: working at McDonald's and hanging out with a 15 year-old kid," and he just walks away. That showed such maturity and character growth, to not get drawn into someone's self-pity party, even someone you're in love with.
And all the pieces matter (The Wire)share
I took it that Conor was insulted by what Raphina said about hanging out with a 15-year-old "kid." He felt like she was putting him (and their friendship) down.
That's exactly what it was. She said probably the cruelest thing she could say to him, so he did the mature thing and just walked away.
The funny thing, though, is that I read a "feminist" (I used quotes because the viewpoints on the film were so ridiculous and extreme that I can't call it feminism, an ideology that I identify with, considering I support equality for the sexes) article review online that tried to say how sexist this film was. They went on and on about how Raphina was a manic pixie dream girl, how her character was pointless except to be Conor's muse and nothing more.
As if that wasn't bad enough, they completely misinterpreted the park scene where Raphina insults him. They latched onto the part where he sees the bruise on her face from where her ex hit her. The reviewer claimed Conor left because he was angry that ANOTHER man hit her, that he didn't have her to himself... Which is one of the biggest, most ridiculous overreach I've ever seen in a movie review.
There is another reason to fill your heart with hatred.
It's pretty hard to see the ending in any kind of an unambiguously negative light. There is a very clear indication that though this is the path they chose, and even though it may be right path, it's going to be even more difficult than the alternative.
Following your dreams can be dangerous, but does that mean you shouldn't? Or does the danger make the journey more worthwhile?
That's what I gathered from the end.
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Live and learn. At least we lived.