Hunky Dory Reviews
Daniel P
Super Reviewer
February 27, 2013
Superb comedy-drama interspersed with some truly brilliant music and featuring a warm and affable performance from Minnie Driver as the EA teacher trying to direct a musical based on The Tempest. It's sort of like Glee with a degree or Pitch Perfect without the slapstick and one-liners but with added (realistic) swearing and a particularly believable exploration of sexuality. Another gem from chameleon-like director Marc Evans. Cynicism should ideally be left behind.
March 27, 2013
Aneurin Barnard was a pleasure to listen to and to watch. Wow! Beautiful voice and he really nailed the range of awkward to shy to angry and through all of those again. The film's virtues include not being just another Glee or High School Musical but evokes realism in a way that makes me wonder about the reviewers I have seen who are too slick and cynical to see that it works in a different way.
March 4, 2013
much deeper than it seems and that is it's charm...loved it...with one quick kiss 'Miss' gets through to her student that maybe Stella is not THE one...that the pain will pass...that he is of value..totally appropriate action....great bit of writing and acting. Minie is a great story teller in real life and on screen.
July 11, 2012
driver was the wrong choice for the lead in this... if they'd gone with a rougher cast and stuck more to the kids stories than highlighting awkward teacher/student relationship then this could of been a great indie flick.
Josh T.
January 12, 2012
What the "Freedom Writers", cum "Glee", cum "School of Rock" plot lacks in originality is more than made up for by the stellar ensemble cast. Driver provides a strong, believable lead performance, supported by the frankly superb rising star Aneurin Barnard, as troubled student Davey, and backed by a surprisingly good cast of relatively unknown young actors.
Without a doubt, the best thing about "Hunky Dory" is the great soundtrack, which is performed entirely by the talented, young cast. The film features a staggering selection of classic 1970s rock artists, such as Pink Floyd, The Who, The Beach Boys, with an emphasis on David Bowie, whose album the film takes its title from.
Overall, "Hunky Dory" is a film that would appeal to the younger "Glee-generation", had it not been awkwardly clashing with a classic rock soundtrack, and a more adult storyline. Nonetheless, it is an entertaining, if schmaltzy and clichéd, film.
Set in 1976 Swansea, "Hunky Dory" follows charismatic drama teacher Viv (Minnie Driver) as she attempts to stage a rock-opera version of Shakespeare's "The Tempest", set on Mars. Predictably, the play serves as a catalyst to examine and solve some of the students' problems, such as broken families and burgeoning homosexuality, and as a point of confrontation between liberal Viv and other sterner and more classically minded teachers.
What the "Freedom Writers", cum "Glee", cum "School of Rock" plot lacks in originality is more than made up for by the stellar ensemble cast. Driver provides a strong, believable lead performance, supported by the frankly superb rising star Aneurin Barnard, as troubled student Davey, and backed by a surprisingly good cast of relatively unknown young actors.
Without a doubt, the best thing about "Hunky Dory" is the great soundtrack, which is performed entirely by the talented, young cast. The film features a staggering selection of classic 1970s rock artists, such as Pink Floyd, The Who, The Beach Boys, with an emphasis on David Bowie, whose album the film takes its title from.
Overall, "Hunky Dory" is a film that would appeal to the younger "Glee-generation", had it not been awkwardly clashing with a classic rock soundtrack, and a more adult storyline. Nonetheless, it is an entertaining, if schmaltzy and clichéd, film.
