Coming of Age with Northern Soul

Northern Soul

Directed by Elaine Constantine
Written by Elaine Constantine

The review:

Northern Soul is a fine niche* coming-of-age movie from the usual male point of view. I loved the setting and all of the grimy details, especially the intersection of drug use and the dance scene.** While it follows the usual coming of age/drug use trajectories, the enthusiasm for Northern Soul music makes this a fun watch.

The verdict: Good

Cost: free via Hoopla, one of Multnomah County Library’s streaming services.
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

• Sing Street
• We Are the Best
• The Commitments
• Almost Famous
• Yesterday

Further sentences:

*The niche in question is Northern Soul music which Wikipedia tells me is “a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England and the English Midlands in the late 1960’s from the British mod scene, based on a particular style of black American soul music…with a heavy beat and fast tempo.” You can read more here, including the information about how the lesser or unknown tracks were the most popular Northern Soul music. A plot point hinges around this.
**At times, it seemed that the big pops of color were the uppers the characters were taking.

Questions:

• What music was your coming of age music?
• Would you have been into Northern Soul in the early 1970s? (Or were you?)

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Was originally only meant to be playing in five screens across the UK but due to high demand it got a blanket release of over 160 screens

Other reviews of Northern Soul:

• Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times
• Nathalie Atkinson, The Globe and Mail