God Help the Girl

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

I loved this movie just because I had a Great love for God Help The Girl and Belle & Sebastian Their music helped me get through so many things and seeing this movie full of their songs made it just Amazing. It's cozy and fun movie. If you know God Help The Girl you will Love it. If you don't know them you will fall in love my dear.

There was a lot to like about God Help the Girl but despite a few good individual scenes, but it didn't flow together as a story that well. Maybe writer/director Stuart Murdoch needed more creative feedback and better editors than he got. Certain scenes and characters just show up out of nowhere with little connection to the rest of the story, like the WTF scene of Eve going on a bender with some girl we never see before or since. The main character of Eve was weakly written. Her past and her motivations were vague. The movie would have been far better with James and Cassie as main characters and Eve as a side character.

You could see God Help The Girl as a culmination of Belle & Sebastian's (a band named after a fictional band that Murdoch's songwriting centered on) characters and themes spanning their nearly 20 years as a band. James, Cassie and Eve seem derived from the archetypal characters from B&S's songs. The movie though develops them in a shallow and haphazard way that doesn't really do justice to the insights and characters brilliantly explored in the individual songs. I think Murdoch could make a good movie, but God Help The Girl was just so-so. The music was excellent at least.

For some reason I expected a little more from Stuart Murdoch who has written some beautiful songs, even though with varying degrees of lollipop. In God Help The Girl he does a few things well. The dance and musical sequences, though possibly jarring to some, are blended into the film reasonably well. But the rest of it is pretty shallow. It's as if he had the idea of jumping into the ocean but got to the edge and just paddled, not really able or wanting to get wet. For example, James is potentially an interesting character but Stuart doesn't develop him beyond the paper thin. At one point in the film, Anton (Pierre Boulanger) describes Eve's music as, and I'm paraphrasing, baby stories for young girls. I think Anton's analysis could equally apply to God Help The Girl.

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.