Welcome to Swansea, 1976 during the hottest summer on record, where rehearsals are taking place for a high-school Rock ‘n’ Roll version of Shakespeare’s The Tempest that David Bowie would be proud of. Hunky Dory is an unforgettable coming-of-age journey following a group of school friends in their last weeks before they are out in the real world.
Reviews
The Financial Times
Nigel Andrews
“Evans’s film never quite escapes soppiness: the puppy-loving teenagers and their adorable truancies; the eternal sunshine of freckled minds. And the music sounds like David Bowie gone winsome. Thank Heaven for biggish girls like star Minnie Driver. She at least, playing the show-directing teacher with spirit, wit and sass, gives Hunky Dory some funky-dory ebullience.”
01/03/2012
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The Guardian
Peter Bradshaw
“It's all very silly, and that teenage school orchestra sounds suspiciously accomplished. Yet, in its goofy way, Hunky Dory is likable.”
01/03/2012
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The Independent
Anthony Quinn
“It hasn't the note-perfect finish that an American equivalent would boast, and sometimes sounds distinctly rough around the edges; but the earnest playing of the orchestra and the lo-fi warbling touch the heart in a way that a more polished production might not. ”
02/03/2012
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The Scotsman
Siobhan Synnot
“Structurally, Hunky Dory tantalises its audience with the idea of suspense, the idea of crisis, the idea of controversy, the idea of character, before quickly scuttling away from any interesting consequences. A budding teacher-pupil romance is floated with a late night kiss, then dropped in the next scene. A pupil nervously comes out as gay ... but is treated with enlightened understanding. There’s a dead dad, but no strong sense of grief. Teen passions spring up, then break up, with no real harm done.”
01/03/2012
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Time Out
Ben Walters
“A mixed bag. There’s little to surprise and there are too many characters and strands to get invested in any of them.”
28/02/2012
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The Observer
Philip French
“The movie isn't bad. Driver is an attractive presence, and it isn't her fault that at times she appears unbearably smug and self-righteous. But the producers would have been wise to have invited James Corden, Ruth Jones and Rob Brydon in to spend a couple of days polishing Laurence Coriat's screenplay.”
04/03/2012
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Channel 4 Film
Terry Mulcahy
“A film devoid of conflict, Hunky Dory is extremely flat. It's a shame that none of the plot strands that might have lead to something meatier don't ever go beyond surface-level, soap-opera shenanigans. It's not that any of this is handled badly - it's just not handled at all. The plot is pushed forward only by sexual tension and the question of whether or not the school play will go ahead or - hardly edge of your plastic-classroom-seat stuff. ”
02/03/2012
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Empire Magazine
Angie Errigo
“One might make an argument for rawness over the polished absurdity of Glee or High School Musical, but when every old cliché of the Putting On The Show Right Here genre is trotted out, the execution can’t be this poor. ”
27/02/2012
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The Times
Wendy Ide
“Glee fans will be turned off by a score that features idiosyncratic covers of Bowie, ELO and Nick Drake, while their parents will find the High School Musical element of the story off-putting.”
02/03/2012
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The Daily Telegraph
Tim Robey
“It’s very clearly a passion project for Evans — good-hearted even when it’s not panning out, and a movie you really, earnestly want to like.
”
01/03/2012
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The Sunday Times
Edward Porter
“... overcrowded, and most of the story lines get compressed into clichés ...”
04/03/2012
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The Daily Mail
Chris Tookey
“The oft-repeated message is that the education of teenagers should be more about self-expression. That may have been true in the Seventies, but a cursory reading of internet message boards 40 years later suggests that self-expression without knowledge, judgment or even basic literacy is a curse rather than a blessing.”
01/03/2012
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