GFF 2013: Good Vibrations

Directors Lisa Barros D'Sa and Glenn Leyburn explore the life of Belfast record shop owner Terri Hooley (Dormer), whose career was inextricably linked to the explosion of punk and set in parallel to the Troubles. Hooley's greatest achievement in terms of music lore was stumbling upon a young band from Londonderry and recording their first single, "Teenage Kicks".

What makes The Undertones so fascinating is how far removed their innocence and lighthearted subject matter was from outside perception of life in Derry's Bogside. Good Vibrations attempts to emulate this effect, focusing on Terri's love of music amidst surrounding violence. The issue with Good Vibrations is that the directors constantly foreground the atmosphere surrounding the shop on Great Victoria Street with archive images of balaclavas, machine guns and British Army soldiers, drawing attention to its conceit. As a result of this heavy-handedness, the characters remain distant and fail to secure any real empathy from the viewer. [David McGinty]