Film review: Sunshine on Leith (PG)

Dexter Fletcher’s big-screen version of the Proclaimers musical taps into the simple joy of a story told through song
Sunshine on Leith. Picture: ContributedSunshine on Leith. Picture: Contributed
Sunshine on Leith. Picture: Contributed

Sunshine on Leith (PG)

Directed by: Dexter Fletcher

Starring: Peter Mullan, Jane Horrocks, George MacKay, Antonia Thomas, Kevin Guthrie, Freya Mavor

Star rating: * * *

With the rise of the so-called jukebox movie musical, there seems to be a higher premium placed on effort and enthusiasm these days than genuine talent, ensuring that a format that once depended on star performers dazzling audiences with astonishing routines has been reduced to the cinematic equivalent of an end-of-term school show filled with impossible-to-embarrass movie stars hoofing and hollering along to pre-existing pop hits.

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If the existence of tone-deaf and visually abhorrent travesties such as Mamma Mia! and Rock of Ages suggests filmmakers aren’t interested in staging such amateur dramatics with any craft, though, there are moments in actor-turned-director Dexter Fletcher’s ebullient big-screen version of the Proclaimers musical Sunshine on Leith that prove the contrary.

Romanticised shots of Edinburgh that sweep over Arthur’s Seat, frame the castle against postcard pretty sunsets, and bathe the streets of Leith in a hazy nostalgic glow may give the impression of a film that has been made with one eye on boosting Scottish tourism, but they also help reinforce something that Fletcher’s film is alive to more than most movies of this ilk: the way pop music can lift people out of the drudgery of their everyday existence.

In Sunshine on Leith, whenever pub gatherings, anniversary celebrations, tearful farewells or conversations/flirtations/arguments lead to characters breaking into the Proclaimers’ back catalogue, the film seems to understand the simple joy to be had in telling a story through music – even if the songs’ original lyrics are often used with a literalness that’s sometimes a little clumsy.

The latter is the curse of having a script that makes a laughably contrived, corny and occasionally cringe-worthy attempt to wrangle Craig and Charlie Reid’s songs into a workable narrative. Having not seen the original Dundee Rep production, I can’t comment on how writer Stephen Greenhorn’s attempt to create a story to fit the songs worked in a live setting, but there’s a definite staginess to the film version that initially makes it difficult to buy into.

The early plot-establishing scenes have an especially awkward, knuckle-gnawing intensity as we’re introduced to best friends Davy (George MacKay) and Ally (Kevin Guthrie) as they return from active service in Afghanistan to a civilian life in an Edinburgh short on opportunities. Having witnessed one friend (played by Paul Brannigan) being crippled in action, their futures are much on their minds, with the dreamier Davy unimpressed by the prospect of a career in a call centre and the unimaginative Ally a little too focused on settling down with Davy’s sister Liz (Freya Mavor) to realise that all she wants to do is see the world – or at least Miami (well, they had to squeeze in Letter from America somehow).

The film settles down, however, whenever the story focuses on Davy and Liz’s parents. Rab (Peter Mullan) and the helpfully-named-for-the-song Jean (Jane Horrocks) are about to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, but their surface happiness is also about to be tested by revelations from Rab’s past. None of these is particularly earth-shattering, but both Mullan and Horrocks imbue them with so much gravitas and soulfulness that the film suddenly feels a bit more substantial whenever they’re in front of the camera.

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Mullan in particular manages to deliver even the cheesiest lines in a way that makes it seem as if raw emotion is bleeding through the screen and his gravelly singing voice is surprisingly tender. What’s really remarkable about Mullan, however, is the naturalism he brings to his big solo number. Though it would be easy to mock his musical abilities, he slips into song with such casual grace and authority that the whole scene momentarily transforms Sunshine on Leith into a different, better film, one in which music and drama are suddenly fused together into a cohesive whole rather than left to feel like awkward bedfellows. As I wrote in my review of the film after the premiere: he could have been this film’s Pierce Brosnan; instead he’s its Meryl Streep.

It’s a shame, then, that Fletcher can’t sustain that trick throughout, although at least he knows that the film’s strengths lie in the musical numbers and proceeds to attack these with an exuberance easy to get swept up in. It helps that his cast are at least decent singers (no longer a given in movie musicals). MacKay, Guthrie and Mavor acquit themselves well, though it’s Antonia Thomas, cast as Davy’s love interest Yvonne, who has the best voice and emerges as the strongest performer.

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Naturally, then, it’s her and MacKay who get to lead us into the show-stopping finale, a chaotically choreographed flash mob rendition of I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles). The triumph of the film is that it doesn’t make you want to be that distance away from it.

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