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Edited by Evelyn Lok
FILMevelyn.lok@hkmagmedia.com
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God Help the Girl PPPPP
(UK) Musical/drama. Directed by Stuart Murdoch. Starring Emily Browning, Olly Alexander,
Hannah Murray. 111 minutes. Category IIB. Opened Oct 23.
“God Help the Girl” is the debut film of Stuart Murdoch, frontman of Scottish indie pop group Belle
and Sebastian. As you would expect from the Scots melancholist, the movie has had a tortured
development. Murdoch had long ago conceived of the idea for a musical film, shot entirely in his
hometown of Glasgow, about a young girl moving into adulthood. Great idea: but he found writing
songs easier than writing movies. The “God Help the Girl” album was released in 2009—the film
has only just hit cinemas. Was it worth the wait? Murdoch’s musical might be a little too self-aware
for some but at its core, it’s a warm, willing musical about growing up.
Eve (Emily Browning, “Sucker Punch”) is a girl with a problem or two. She lives in a psychiatric
hospital in Glasgow, where she’s dealing with anorexia and depression. The only time she feels
happy is when she’s writing music. One day she sneaks out to a gig in the middle of town, where
she meets James (relative newcomer Olly Alexander), a grumpy university student with glasses,
messy hair and a love of pop music. Eve discharges herself from the hospital and moves in with
James. She meets Cassie (Hannah Murray, Gilly from “Game of Thrones” and Cassie from “Skins”),
a well-off schoolgirl who’s learning guitar from James: The three hit it off and decide to start a
band. Over the summer, the trio goes on grand days out, looks for supporting musicians, argues
about band names, and sings a song or two—all while helping Eve get her life back on track. But of
course, the summer has to come to an end, and with it the three must work out what to do next.
The principal actors are great: Emily Browning seems to specialize in lost characters, and her
impeccably dressed musical wanderings around summertime Glasgwegian streets are adorable
and vulnerable all at once. Hannah Murray’s Cassie is callow and privileged, but totally warm and
genuine. As James, Olly Alexander is fantastic—a spot-on mix of bumbling awkwardness and a
nerdy passion for music that’s adulterated by an affected world-weariness. You couldn’t wish for
better friends. It’s good, in fact, to see a movie that doesn’t stigmatize someone’s mental illness:
instead the other characters accept it, work with it, and do whatever they can to help.
“God Help the Girl” is a tremendously arch movie, even for a musical: put aside the music and
you’re often left with some annoying and clunky dialogue about the very nature of music. (“A man
needs only write one genius song to make him forever divine,” and so on) They’re the kinds of
conversations you could charitably dismiss as the kind of conversation we all have about music
when we’re 18. Between that and the cuteness of its characters, the movie often verges on the
twee, something that would be tremendously annoying, if only the three leads weren’t so
totally endearing.
What’s not annoying, of course, is the music—which is fantastic. The songs are some of the
strongest Murdoch has written in years, and he shoots them remarkably well also. With dance
sequences, melancholy wanders, choreographed routines and sometimes, just a little bit of solo
guitar—the best of the movie comes through, inevitably, in its tunes.
As a modern-day coming-of-age movie “God Help the Girl” is knowing and often saccharine,
but it’s also charming and satisfying. It all boils down to this: If you love Belle and Sebastian, with
all its self-conscious musical art, then you’ll love “God Help the Girl.” Adam White
Coming Soon
Dot 2 Dot
(Hong Kong/China) Hong Kong actor Moses
Chan removes himself from his beloved cup
of artisanal coffee for a couple moments to
star in this film, which explores urban change
and collective memory in Hong Kong. He
is Chung, a recent returnee to Hong Kong
from Canada, who expresses the changes
transpired over the last years in an intricate
dot-to-dot street art mural. It’s obviously a
great way to meet girls, because in comes
Xue, a Putonghua teacher from China trying to
understand the culture and history of her new
city. Opens Oct 30.
Horns
(USA) Just in time for Halloween, “Horns”
stars Daniel Radcliffe in the scariest nightmare
of all: a man who wakes up after a terrible
night of drinking to find horns growing on his
head, and the news that his girlfriend was
violently raped and murdered—and he’s the
prime suspect. But perhaps the superpowers
set it off: he gains the ability to make people
confess their sins and give into their wildest
impulses, which he takes advantage of in
the quest for truth and revenge. Yeah! Dark
Potter! Opens Oct 30.
34 HK MAGAZINE FRIDAY, October 24, 2014