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Laramie Movie Scope:
The Commitments

Joyous music and personality conflicts

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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October 8, 1991 -- Another film that will be coming to Laramie in the near future is an excellent musical comedy called ``The Commitments.''

The story concerns a blues band formed of working class people in Dublin, Ireland. As the creator of the band says in the film, ``The Irish are the blacks of Europe ... '' so he figures the north side Dublin working class poor should be able to play the blues.

Photography, use of locations and the acting is uniformly superior in this film. What really sets the film apart, however, is the music and the feeling that director Alan Parker has gotten us inside the workings of a band and how a band is formed. The individual band members are real, fleshed-out characters. Their dramatic-comic story unfolds seamlessly from beginning to end.

The musical performances are stunning. There's some wonderful music here. Parts of the movie play like a top-quality concert film. Although parts of the story are dramatic, overall it is an ironic comedy, and a very funny one at that, as the band manager tries to keep this group of conflicting personalities from flying apart.

This film rates an A.

Click here for links to places to buy this movie in video and/or DVD format, the soundtrack, books, even used videos, games and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)