![Shadwen trophies](https://loka.nahovitsyn.com/68.jpg)
I realise that I am biased but it's a bloody good film. The first time I saw it was at the premier and it wasn't in a proper cinema and the sound was so bad that you couldn't pick out the dialogue. So I saw Northern Soul the film tonight for the 2nd time. If 1970s Northern Soul was your thing, then you really do need to check it out. The film also felt as if it needed more humour - but these gripes aside, this is still an extremely well made and well acted piece which I am sure will gain a cult following over time. This wouldn't be such a bad thing but certainly from the PR for the film I was not expecting the 1970s version of Human Traffic. It began to fell more a film about drugs, drug taking and the extreme characters within that world rather than a film about the period, the halls, the Soul and the music. Where the film disappointed was in the drugs subplot which almost anchored the whole film. Antonia Thomas is also very believable giving another effortless performance. The production design and depiction of the old school dance halls of the North are spot on and the acting all round by an energetic cast very worthy indeed with special mention going to newcomer Josh Whitehouse whom I am sure has a successful career ahead of him. Though I was a kid at the time my older friends who were on that scene never embraced the drug aspect of it which seemed to me far less dominant than as portrayed in the movie. What I got was a realistic depiction of working class Northern England, with new music giving young people an outlet away from their dull lives which was great but then quickly became a story about drugs dominating the scene and their lives. I grew up in the 1970s and remember everything about the era and was hoping this might be similar to Good Vibrations which covered the rise and fall of a record label of the same era. Just as he is feeling disillusioned with school and falling out with his parents he is caught up in the new music vibe of Soul imported vinyl from America, soon him and his friend Matt are starting their own music night, swinging hip moves on the dance floor and embracing the new Northern Soul scene but drugs seem to play a major part of it all too, will that take over from the music? Having seen the trailer for this movie, I was quite excited. John Clark lives in the working class North West of the 1970s. All-in-all, Northern Soul has a fairly generic story-line but it is made more interesting on account of the interesting scene it is based around. But there is much humour in the script to alleviate the grim state of affairs somewhat and the young cast do good work alongside a selection of well-knowns including James Lance, Ricky Tomlinson, John Thomson, Lisa Stansfield and Steve Coogan. It additionally portrays 70's Britain as a beige hell, with fashions, haircuts and décor all of a remarkably appalling standard in fact everything seems to lack any joy at all, aside from the music itself. In truth it's not entirely unreasonable to broach the subject of drug abuse as by all accounts a few northern soul fans died as a result of this and the scene was fuelled to a large extent by narcotics just as the dance music scene of the last twenty-five years has also. Unfortunately, it does lose steam a bit in the second half as it concentrates more on the inevitable dramatic down-side that the narrative in these types of films seem to demand.
![wigan young souls wigan young souls](https://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/24b763d53ee525139ff67e18138acd38b103b836.jpg)
It's such a specific phenomenon, it's fascinating in itself. The film itself is strongest in its early stages when it focuses on the music scene more. Its details like these that I find most interesting about the northern soul movement, a music scene I am too young to remember. The competition between DJs became intense but sadly such a retro scene was always going to have a finite existence because eventually there were no more obscure soul records left to find. From the perspective of today when everybody can get access to any music at the click of a button, it's amazing to think that some of the songs back in the day only existed on one solitary record owned by one DJ so if you wanted to hear it, you had to go to see his set. These northern soul clubs offered up something energetic and joyous. Watch re-runs of Top of the Pops if you need proof that popular music in the UK was pretty dire on the whole at the time. It may not sound like much now but I am guessing it meant a lot back in the mid 70's, particularly when you take into account the state of music in Britain at the time.
![wigan young souls wigan young souls](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81zrSASTuVL._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg)
This phenomenon happened in the north of England where several clubs emerged where DJs played obscure American soul records. Before the emergence of the house and rave music scenes in the late 80's, there was Northern Soul.
![Shadwen trophies](https://loka.nahovitsyn.com/68.jpg)