Swing

After seeing this rather fun loving film, I just wanted to take up my dancing career again. Lisa Stansfield plays a very convincing scouser, even though there are the odd times when Rochdale creeps in, this is also a slight problem with Hugo Speer, non the less a most enjoyable film with laughs a plenty. If you have never been to Liverpool, once you have watched "Swing" you'll feel you have lived there.

Just fast-forward through the plot. The writer did. The guy who wants to set up a band just happens to have a bartender uncle who can provide a brass section, a maitre d' friend who can provide a hall, and another friend who works for a crazy millionaire who decides to set up a record label. There are a few good inspirational lines spoken by Clarence Clemons (who also provides the dubbed sax for the protagonist), but the script doesn't take the time to put them in context so they take on the purplish tinge of a sore thumb. The most amusing lines in the film are printed in the closing credits. Oh, but the music is nice and Lisa S. is magnetic.

I had barely heard of this film when I caught the trailer in front of another video. Since I love swing music, enjoyed Hugo Speer in "The Full Monty" and like Lisa Stansfield's singing, I gave it a try and was not dissappointed.

The story of an ex-con organizing a swing band is like "The Commitments" only not as crunchy. But while it's unravelling, particularly during the musical numbers, there's little time to complain. The whole thing is really a fairy tale, with a demented lottery winner as fairy godmother and Stansfield's possessive husband--the cop who had arrested Speers three years earlier--as wicked witch.

Stansfield's singing of some classic jazz and soul numbers is simply terrific. And Speers turns in a kinetic performance that could make him a star if anybody else sees this film.

I had the opportunity of seeing a screening of "Swing" at Culver Studios, Los Angeles in August 1999 and was more than pleasantly surprised at the performance of Lisa Stansfield. She's a natural actress with incredible screen comfort and grace. The ensemble was incredible and thoroughly believable. Clarence Clemmons was a very nice added touch as the "voice of reality." I was particularly intrigued with the fact that this film dealt with the hero's (Hugo Speer of "The Full Monty") desire to form an orchestra and not on a bunch of Gap Commercial dancing tazmanian devils. This film never goes in the direction you expect it to. The hero's problems are rarely through any fault of his own nor is he portrayed as a bumbling "ex con who just can't make the right choices." His character is believable, likeable and you will find yourself rooting for him. Ms. Stansfield held more than her own in this film and gave some unique, sensual and breathy renditions of "Watch The Birdie" (originally performed by Miss Anita O'Day) and "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens. Other outstanding characters are Peter Usher as Liam and Rita Tushingham as Mags. This is definitely a feel good movie and a guaranteed TOE TAPPER. Several people commented at the screening that they were very tempted to get up and dance in the aisle.

This director didn't miss a beat in developing these characters. The humour is dark and rich, with a really local flavour and a lot of geniune affection behind each turn. I was amazed at Lisa Stansfield whose performance was so natural you'd think she'd been treading the boards for years. While SWING shows Liverpool and the kind of poverty you can't shake off your boots, it begs you to be optimistic, let loose and come have a good time. Music, faith and hard work (with a bit of luck in the form of an hysterically funny "professional" lottery winner) transform Hugo Speer's world and I left the theatre with the lightest of hearts from experiencing his journey.

And forget about the soundtrack, everybody was tapping and grinning away throughout the film.