Soundtrack to Sixteen

Loved the film when seeing for the first time at Prince Charles. Fresh, young and the relatable British teen story we needed. Defo recommend a watch!

Firstly, the title: SOUNDTRACK To Sixteen: I kept trying to figure out what that was supposed to mean. It wasn't the dialogue or the music score -- as I really hoped. The only soundtrack that played through this film was of misanthropy and glumness.

The characters aren't engaging or well-formed. The nuance that defines winning films in this category just isn't here.

It takes way too long for the lead characters' paths to intersect and it doesn't feel feasible or natural. If it was a crowded situation in the same setting and they were thrust together, that would have been better than the concocted, forced encounter that appears.

Then the next half of the film plays before they connect.

What really plays out is all the bones of a SHORT FILM padded out to fill 93 minutes -- which turns out feeling much much longer.

Watching this at home in quarantine took almost three hours, because I kept getting distracted and the film didn't pull me in.

A real gem that doesn't conform to many of the boring trope of your typical teenage dramas. A beautifully touching insight into the pressures of school, friendship, and blossoming romance, from a truly refreshing perspective. I expect great things from this sister-duo in the future, who have clearly shown just a fraction of what they are capable of. Highly recommended.

Soundtrack To Sixteen is a film every teen can relate to! Simple and easy to connect to watching these teens experience what it's like to fall in love and go against the status quo. You'll fall in love with these relatable characters.

The storyline follows teens Maisey (Scarlett Marshall) and Ben (Gino Wilson), two socially awkward teens navigating the world and trying to find their place in it, while falling in love with one another. The film is accompanied by rock music and voice overs provided by the main actors as their characters' thoughts.

This film accurately represents the lives of teens for whom finding their place in the world is difficult and they feel awkward and out of place. It's so refreshing to watch two characters go through their daily life experiences, and watching ourselves in them. The soundtrack is incredible. It's as if the songs represent the thoughts and emotions of the characters - all wild and crazy. The romance between Ben and Maisey is something very peaceful to watch, almost comforting. In society, it's rare to have a Romeo and Juliet romance. Watching these two characters have a calm relationship, get to know one another and still have insecurities is so beautiful because it's the relationship the majority of us experience. I really love the opening credits; they're a perfect way to open up the movie. It gives a wonderful introduction to the actors, and the unique sketches of the characters set the tone for the rest of the film. The perfect way to describe this movie is hilarious and definitely a feel-good flick.

The moral of the story is to love yourself and soon enough you'll find people who will love and relate to you. Maisey was always left out of her friend's group and, once she stopped worrying about trying to fit in, she meets Ben, who loves her for who she is. Ben, on the other hand, feels as though he needs to pretend to be someone he's not. His worries are quieted when he meets Maisey.

I give Soundtrack to Sixteen 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 14 to 18. By Heather S., KIDS FIRST!

The title has an interesting connection to the story. Ben has been into music growing up and, starting when he was eleven, each year made a CD of the music he listened to during that year. It became a sort of music diary of his growing up. Near the end of this movie he gave Maisy one which he titled "Soundtrack to Sixteen."

Maisy and Ben are 16-yr-old London school students, but they are played by actors born in 1993 which probably made them 26 during filming. Each lives a sort of boring life, inexperienced in the ways of romance, and studiously looking forward to college. They meet quite by accident at a party, then again later when they are on the same bus.

Ben wants to study Physics but isn't very good at the subject. But Maisy is and they help each other, as Ben is good at History. The movie pretty much covers the school year, announcing chapters by the month, then the days leading up to final exams.

The filmmakers use the technique of letting us hear the thoughts that Maisy and Ben are having during key scenes, reflecting their normal insecurities of kids that age. It almost follows the standard Hallmark process where two people meet, develop a relationship, have a falling out of sorts, then we all know what happens during the last minute of the movie.

I enjoyed the viewing as something different, and watching it reminded me of the study habits of cramming the night before the exam, something I was doing exactly 60 years ago as I began my first year of college.

The movie was written and directed by a young team of sisters, Hillary and Anna, The Shakespeare Sisters. So I would suppose that, although fictional, the story is pretty close to reality. In fact Hillary started her career in science, completing an undergrad in Physics at Imperial College, then a masters in Computer Science at Oxford. A close parallel to what Ben had wanted.

At home, streaming on Peacock.