Rock'N'Love

You Instead is as close as it gets to being at a music festival without actually being there. Right from the start the audience is wholly immersed in the festival atmosphere. This is, in part, down to the crew shooting the entirety of the film at the T in the Park event in Scotland and featuring the artists performing there (Biffy Clyro and Joe Mango to name two).

Director David Mackenzie took the two actors and their supporting cast and literally dropped them in it. Up to their knees in mud at times and performing amongst a genuine crowd of revellers from start to finish. Luke Treadaway and Natalia Tena are more than convincing as frontmen of their respective bands, largely helped by Tena's burgeoning career as a musician with her group Molotov Jukebox.

You Instead takes brilliant advantage of an environment where the rules of daily life no longer apply. The result is a film populated with larger than life characters in a world we rarely get a glimpse of, and it's a great fun place to spend an hour and a half.

Look. This movie is not going to win any awards. It's very short and honestly, there's NOT a whole lot of actual story here. However, I thought it was a nice little distraction. I enjoyed the chemistry between the two main characters. Are they gonna win Oscars for their acting? Eh. They were obnoxious but I liked them. The music was great. I loved hearing all the new songs and hearing some old ones in a whole new way. Actually, I really enjoyed all of the music in the movie. Is this movie gonna change your life? Nope. It's definitely not going to do that. Sometimes a movie just is what it is and that's OK! Give it a chance....

Somehow right from the start, when I saw the UK National Lottery logo, I knew I was going to like this movie. And it was one of most intimately heartfelt movies I have seen in months. The plot in itself is neither a big bang discovery nor it ends with an unexpected twist. The events follow the inevitable logic of a fairytale, leavening everyone happy and where they have to be in life. But make no mistake, it doesn't cause the story to be ant less interesting because what you want in this movie is to soak into the atmosphere of the music festivals, the great music in itself( if you are into this indie kind of stuff) and of course the boy-meet-girl-than-both-get-handcuffed love story. It was so imaginary and so real at the same time that I completely fell head over heals for it. I always liked Natalia and Luke, being two of the most peculiar, unforgettable faces in cinema today. They delivered great performances with very believable chemistry.That topped with Luke's singing in the beginning made all this music fairy land so organic and tangible, pretty impossible to look away. Also I very much appreciated how the romance was sprinkled with few good laughs that totally kept the presumed mushiness aside. Great film to enjoy, excellent hangover antidote.

Thank heavens for "Tonight You're Mine" (or its original title in the U.K.: "You Instead"), a movie that manages to exceed my expectations for a story like this. Undeniably sweet, magical and occasionally funny at times, this rock and roll gem will surprise you from start to finish. It's also the kind of movie you can watch on a rainy day and you can still have a good time. Luke Treadaway from the "Clash of the Titans" remake and "Attack the Block" stars as Adam, one-half of the American rock band "The Make". His day is not starting to go well. He's supposed to perform at the "T in the Park" music festival in Scotland. While that happens, he happens to be handcuffed, thanks to a scheming minister, with Morello (Natalia Tena, Nymphadora Tonks from the "Harry Potter" film series), the band leader for the British female rock group "The Dirty Pinks", (who also have to perform at the festival) after some bitter arguments. All of this takes place at that festival and throughout the movie, Adam and Morello has to find a way to break out of those cuffs, play their gigs, and---possibly---make a magical connection that might find themselves in love. I know you think that this is another one of those groan-inducing rom-coms, but trust me, this is much different than that. Clocking in a rather fast time of 80 minutes, "Tonight You're Mine" has a heart that pulsates with energy and a soul that rollicks with a staggering sweetness. It's hard to believe that Treadaway (with a very solid American accent) and Tena are very talented (Singing and playing guitar/keyboard) on- and off-screen. But they are and they accomplished that in spades. Their chemistry together is incredible. The music in the film is amazing. It's like listening to a mix tape that you made before, but never listened to it until now and it happens to be a very eclectic mix tape filled with many different sounds. (One of the standouts of that mix tape is Adam and Morello performing "Tainted Love" on stage.) I give director David Mackenzie (of the sexually charged "Young Adam", the Ashton Kutcher disaster "Spread", and the mind-boggling "Perfect Sense") credit for taking us inside the actual "T in the Park" festival. It must have been very difficult to shoot in the festival for 4-5 days, bringing a lot of pressure on the actors. But it feels very authentic, real and organic. What also works is that Mackenzie and screenwriter Thomas Leveritt gives the characters a lot of humanity, including Adam's model girlfriend (Ruta Gedmintas), Morello's on-again, off-again boyfriend (Alastair Mackenzie, the director's brother), Adam's other half Tyko (Mathew Baynton) and the sleazy manager (Gavin Mitchell), who nearly hits on women when he's drunk. Yes, there are no surprises. But there's nothing to be surprised about anyway, except for a couple of them. That's why "Tonight You're Mine" is really magical in many ways possible. You won't be disappointed. Give this film a go.

It must have been an absolute nightmare to try to shoot a watchable film at a wet festival over one weekend. There's the odd really lovely piece of camera-work tucked away in here and the whole thing beautifully captures the festival experience with a surprisingly unobtrusive but mesmerizing music score. Great to see a cast of more or less unknowns, putting to shame bigger names and far bigger budgets. Not every film has to shock or nudge the audience into exploring some hidden dark side of themselves. Sometimes films are there just to record the lighter side of life, and this is one of them. A pleasant stroll through T in the Park ..... nothing wrong with that.