God Help the Girl

~~~STORY~~~ Eva is a mentally unstable teenage girl, and finds that the only way to soothe herself is song writing. When she finds out about her musical talent, she escapes the hospital that she's in and stumbles across James in a nightclub. The two form a friendship and then Eva meets Cassie, who James mentors for guitar. They all decide to form a band. ~~~STORY REVIEW~~~ The story, on the surface, is really good. Each scenario leading up to the band's formation is convincing and pretty realistic. Even during the band's "active" days, it's a somewhat convincing story. The ending.... yeah no. The ending really didn't do much for me at all, and left me with a feeling of "oh, that's it?". Pretty good story overall. ~~~MUSIC~~~ Stuart Murdoch (director and writer for GHTG) is a songwriter. He's written songs for Belle and Sebastian for around 3 decades, so it's no surprise that the songs in this film are top class, and reflect Stuart's obvious ability to write songs, even in the unfamiliar environment for writing for movies. ~~~CAST~~~ I've been following GHTG since around 2009, when the soundtrack with the original characters came out with. The voices in these were good singing voices, but I wasn't sure how the voices would be able to act. Stuart Murdoch also probably thought this and got new members for the cast. Emily Browning plays Eve, the main character. A pretty nice casting option if I'm honest. She fits the character pretty well and has a nice singing voice, and fits the film's vibe pretty well, holding strong in the sad and the happy parts of the film. Pretty convincing character. Olly Alexander plays James. Again, a nice casting choice, with a nice singing voice and fits the hipster vibe of the film pretty well. Nothing to complain about here. Now, seems good doesn't it? Well, let me get to f***ing Hannah Murray. Her voice is the most irritating thing I've ever heard in my life. She can't sing and all of her dialog and her scenes are ruined by her irritating voice. It's a shame that the main characters couldn't be all good. ~~~CONCLUSION~~~ This film is certainly great. Blank out Hannah Murray's voice, and you get some great songs out of it (wouldn't expect less from Stuart Murdoch) and a pretty feel-good vibe. It's overall a pretty nice romance/music film, although the ending just is kinda............... eh. Lazy and rushed ending just kinda ruins it a bit for me.

I adore the 2008. album God help the girl, but the movie is mainly below any expectation. Such a shame ... almost nothing works. maybe only two main characters are fine but the rest is so disappointing; other actors, story, tempo, etc.. I can't even remember if the title song is presented in the movie at all?? Someone else wrote that Hannay Murray is not the right actress for the role. I agree! I liked her in her role as long as she didn't sing. She ruined quite a few songs for me - not her fault, but directors/production I wouldn't even recommend it to a hardcore fan of the God help the girl album. It just doesn't do justice to it.

A movie about a young woman with an eating disorder trying to deal with the real life and using music. It is a pretty nice idea. The movie doesn't really have much depth though. We don't really know much about characters and don't see them develop very far. It is just a little episode of their lives when they were talking about making a band. The reason why it isn't a very deep movie is probably because it is a musical. There is more focus on the songs than on the characters and their personalities and stories. My problem in this case that I am not a fan of this kind of music. The songs had a pleasant sound to them but they all sounded kind of the same. Their performance was also not very exciting. Emily Browning was a great singer but there was nothing happening during the songs. Just some walking or sitting in a tub. The only song that stood out for me was the one they performed at the retirement home. This is probably because it was the one performance that seemed to have real energy and character. Still the movie was not bad. I think what helped a lot were the visuals. The style and the settings were beautiful. My favorite part of the movie was them kayaking. Mainly because of the gorgeous scenery.

Having seen God Help the Girl evolve from it's Kickstarter roots to its coming together as an actual film; I was really looking forward to the final completion. The trailer alone seemed to promise a charming little story of a fledgling pop group and the quirks of its individual members. Though attractive and feel-good, the actual film was a bit disappointing. The music seems to pop up randomly and awkwardly, serving little purpose to the story, and the choreography is clumsy. Some parts of the musical numbers are almost embarrassing to watch. Even the wonderful Emily Browning just resorts to a doe-eyed pouting when singing the songs, as they are often unrelated to the scene and I presume she was left clueless as to how else to perform them. The non-musical moments aren't much better. The scenes don't run smoothly from each other. For example, one moment the band are infuriated at their lack of progress. They have songs, but they have yet to perform any of them. Yet, upon advertising for members they are chased by an enthusiastic mob of auditionees. It creates a fun scene but it came from nowhere and then leads nowhere. A French love interest for Eve is another redundant theme. Nothing is offered to the plot and nothing is gained. He disappears just as unnoticeably as he entered. Later on, Eve gets wasted and parties around town with a dancer who only appears for that one scene, another confusing addition. Where the film shines is in the moments where the band members just live their lives and dream. There is a lovely scene in which Eve, Cassie and James take a boat trip, talk frivolously and drink wine. Later on, they play in an outdoor gym whilst discussing their intentions for their band . And another scene at the pool when they debate David Bowie's place in a girl's coming of age. Sweet moments that endear us to the film and the characters. But, for all these moments, the main characters of Eve, Cassie and James are only ever touched upon superficially. We get that Eve is troubled, James is a dreamer and Cassie is child-like. But that is all we get. In the final scenes Eve overdoses, and the only thing this serves to the film is her awakening that the band isn't good enough for her. At the end Eve just gets on a train and leaves, bored of the band and their music. The relationship established throughout the film just thrown away, and it leaves the film to crumble around it. At the end of the film we are exactly where we were at the beginning, and it feels like a monumental waste of time. Having said all of this, I did find the film very cute and watchable. It is sweet and charming, almost twee at times, but I just feel that it could have been so much more than it actually was. I also feel that James and Cassie were the protagonists of this film and that the story would have been better suited to them. It would have been more likable. The film ends with them riding off together on Cassie's tandem bicycle, and we realise too late that we should have been rooting for these two the entire film, and not the selfish and destructive Eve.

Something I unfortunately (?) hadn't discovered prior to watching the movie. This being a musical of some sorts, it won't be everyones cup of tea (be aware of that prior to watching, not to blame the movie after wards). The acting is good, the issues are relatable. Relationships are sort of obvious (as are feelings, even if the main characters sometimes seem to be oblivious to them for whatever reason that is and the viewer won't be able to tell). As with every good musical there's also a lot of drama (this is going for the relationships and growing up, friendships and so forth). It's nicely told with an easy pace to follow. I liked the ending, which also might not be to everyones taste, but I didn't feel anything super special from the movie. Decent/good effort then

God Help The Girl The unique thing about all-female pop groups is once a month they transform into aggressive punk bands. Fortunately, the group in this musical has a male member to balance the hormones. With aspirations of becoming a musician, Eve (Emily Browning) escapes the hospital where she is being treated for anorexia and heads to Glasgow. At a show she encounters a guitar player, James (Olly Alexander), with equal aspirations. With James' guitar student Cassie (Hannah Murray) rounding out the band, the trio start writing songs for an upcoming show. But Eve's desire to get a proper education threatens to end the band before it begins. Conceived by Belle and Sebastian front man Stuart Murdoch, God Help the Girl drips with the indie band's lovelorn melodies and hipster aesthetic; however, what it lacks is a compelling story that addresses Eve's eating disorder. Besides, bands are more successful when assembled by record company executives. Yellow Light vidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

The story focuses on Eve, a girl in Glasgow, Scotland, who's on medication for some emotional caused eating disorders. She like to write songs, which is her own way to cope with her problems. Sometimes she sneaks out and go to live music clubs, where one night she meets James, an aspiring musician. Later James introduces her to Cassie, James' guitar pupil, and they form a band. Before meeting Cassie, Eve also starts a romance with Anton but she doesn't introduce him to James and Cassie. One day the band gets a gig scheduled. At the time they are discussing it, Anton comes and Eve goes with him. Turns out, Anton didn't do what Eve asked him on the day they first meet. When she goes back to James, he gets awkward and kind of avoids her. Without Cassie, Eve then went without direction and gets sick again. James visits her and they reconcile. After giving her songs for Cassie to sing in the band, she goes to James' place asking his opinion about her going to college. He objects to it, but after the band's one last performance with Eve I it, James accompanies Eve as she takes the train to her college life. The story is based on the director Stuart Murdoch's real life music project with the same title. An indie band Belle and Sebastian leader himself, he created the project having female vocalists and his band on the instruments. The story may be a sugar coated fiction about the real project's female vocalists, but at least it's not hyperbolic ally done. Yes the movie does end up showing scenes of music writing, the usual element of a movie about music, especially indie musicians. We may see the more realistic, even not seldom full of conflicts, creative stages of music writing in Frank (2014), but this movie doesn't really overdo it. We are presented with the just right blend of realistic and musical interpretation of the creative process scenes. The story feels so light that it may bore some people who seek more conflicts in the movie or stronger depiction in the screenplay. But the movie kept me watching due to curiosity on what will happen to the band; will it be a cliché about being famous, they break up, or what? The music has some pretty good hum along songs. Well, they are even better to sing along if we know the lyrics. The songs are very easy listening in nature that they don't bore people with them. The amount of dancing done for each song is just enough that they help how the songs feel yet they don't make it feel that much like any standard musical does. The actors, especially Emily Browning in the lead role, can really get the feel on lip-syncing those songs. The acting just a decent okay overall for me. Emily Browning is successful in her lead role here, utilizing just enough facial expressions to maintain her ill character while doing the lip-syncs energetically. Olly Alexander did enough to give the story some balance and keep the romance going, even at the discreet rate at the earlier stages of the movie. Hannah Murray gets into the cheerful nature of her character nicely. I like how she did the canoe scenes and the scene where Eve and James asks her to go out as just wakes up. Pierre Boulanger nicely kept the cam composure of a confident band vocalist, and especially it gets better with his accent. One thing worth mentioning is the great job done in the costume designs. I like how the costumes are always eye catching for all the scenes, both in the designs and color matching. The costumes really puts the camera's focus onto the characters as they help attract the viewers' eyes. My say for God Help The Girl (2014) is a solid 6 out of 10. A light story combined with nice easy listening songs is quite a nice recipe combination for this movie.

What's not to like about this twee movie? The story is the songs brought to life by the twee singers themselves. I found the film charming and naive. Eve, James, and Cassie seem to have way too much time on their hands. Eve, (with an eating problem) is in and out of a clinic and finds writing songs helps her emotionally. Eve, James, and Cassie are all musically oriented, so they form a band. Eve, gets a big break and off to London she goes. This is just simple young people living the dream, and we get to watch their happiness, confusion, pain. They are very much 'in season' for their age and tomorrow it will be different for them. And you get to hear some pretty good songs! Stuart Murdoch kept it a consistent format.

I thought this musical fantasy was a most pleasant and enjoyable film, filled with an appealing storyline, humor, and, of course, many delightful musical numbers. Set in Glasgow, Emily Browning the stunning and talented Australian actress is superb as Eve, who's in treatment at a mental health facility for depression and an eating disorder. However, she'll often sneak out of the facility, at night, to visit local clubs, as she's an aspiring songwriter and singer. One night at one of these clubs, she'll meet James, an idealistic young man and guitar player, whose day-job is being a lifeguard at the local university. Olly Alexander is exceptional, as James, and there's a noticeable chemistry between Eve and James, which will eventually lead to a very close friendship. James is teaching guitar to another young woman, Cassie, ably portrayed by Hannah Murray, who also wants to sing and write songs. Soon, the three of them will form a strong bond, and look to form a band so they can try to play out their musical aspirations. However, in time, they'll have to make decisions about their lives and their futures. The movie was written and directed by Stuart Murdoch, the lead singer of the Scottish band Belle and Sebastian, who were very involved in the musical productions here in the film. I thought his screenplay was very clever, and his direction of the musical numbers was extremely well done. All in all, there were some elements here that reminded me of the great movie "Once", with its heartwarming themes and music. To me, this movie was a most pleasant surprise and an exceptional film.

The long awaited Belle & Sebastian musical, directed by the mastermind behind that band, Stuart Murdoch himself. You can't say he didn't get to make the exact movie he always wanted to. The original record of the songs from this musical was released way back in 2009. At the time, I remember reading a review saying that we never need an actual movie of these songs, as they were so cinematic they didn't need backing images. I never quite followed the plot of the record, which does give the movie some reason to exist. The plot is pretty simple. Emily Browning plays an anorexic girl trying to recover in an institution. When she's finally allowed to leave, she meets up with a young man (Olly Alexander) who shares her interest in musicals. Along with a third friend (Hannah Murray), they start to plot a band. There's not much to it, but it's awfully sweet (as one would expect). Hell, I've been in love with these songs since 2009, so I was easily drawn in. Browning and Murray (who has a small part in Game of Thrones as Gilly) are very easy on the eyes. Browning's quasi-romance with Alexander is plenty touching.