Northern Soul

Not great. Evokes the 70's by its use of clothes, props and language; evokes the north of England by its locations, language (again) and attitudes. However, characters were too flimsy, dialogue poor, plot tenuous and structure a complete mess. Don't watch this, watch "Soulboy" instead - it's the exact same premise but 5x better quality.

Northern Soul was one of the films of 2014 I was most intrigued to see. I'm a lifelong fan of the music scene and I collect Northern Soul vinyl, so this was essential viewing for me. The music is obviously superb and the soundtrack is a stellar collaboration of tracks. The dancing, styling, props and locations evoke the musical period and 70's northern culture brilliantly. From a fly on the wall perspective this is satisfying, but as a story the plot is weak and the characters are unlikeable.

very good film but a stunning soundtrack :)

Excellent.

Has a very authentic feel with great music - a real nostalgia trip, but the story is a bit thin.

Some accents were hard to understand and enjoy. A story of several generations of gangsters and twisted family relationships but the carnage seemed to have surprisingly few casualties. A bit of an overload on the gang bravado, terrible music and ignorant characters. It was hard to get invested in the characters or events.

Utterly generic, but surprisingly seldom outright embarrassing. Predictably cycles through rote coming-of-age tropes, stock characters, and the familiar sub-Shane Meadows "gritty" social realist aesthetics contemporary British cinema seems helplessly saddled with. The kitchen sink realism feels as second hand as one would expect from a former fashion photographer. That said, it passes the time well enough. Obviously the soundtrack helps. Really, just watch Sandrine Rinaldi's Cap Nord though.

Evokes the scene successfully - before this film, I knew almost nothing about the Northern soul community, and now I feel as if I was part of it - and that's really what matters here. The plot drives forward well, combining light character moments with darker goings-on, and it all hangs together quite nicely with the (unsuprisingly) great soundtrack.