Maria Doyle Kennedy

(Third Viewing, On DVD, December 2022) I was apprehensive about revisiting The Commitments decades later. Holding the film is very high esteem, and having owned the DVD version for years, I was afraid that it wouldn’t measure up to my memories of it. But a chunk of my movie schedule is dictated by a very specific list, and that list said that my next movie was to be The Commitments. All right then. To be fair, the film doesn’t always measure up to what I remembered: The first act is noticeably slower and features a lot that I didn’t remember. This makes perfect sense considering that what remains of the film is the music and the overall storytelling arc of a band that flames out early in its life. Ask fans of the film about their favourite bits, and I suspect that they’ll talk about the musical numbers. Digging into classic American soul music, the film offers near-incredible renditions of “Mustang Sally,” “Chain of Fools” and “In the Midnight Hour.”  Since the first musical number is several minutes in the film (the blissful singalong to “Destination Anywhere,” the first hint that the band idea is going to work) and it takes a while for the group to cohere gracefully, it makes sense that the last two thirds of the film is what sticks in mind. The character comedy becomes stronger because we get to know the characters, the narrative arcs play out, and the music becomes better until the group implodes. The Dublin working-class atmosphere is nicely rendered without too many sentimental flourishes, and I still think Maria Doyle Kennedy looks terrific here. Andrew Strong’s voice remains powerful, Johnny Murphy is the wildcard, and director Alan Parker assembles everything with matter-of-fact competence. After the first act, The Commitments quickly measures up to the charm and narrative interest that I remembered from my first two long-ago viewings. If you haven’t yet seen it, do yourself a favour and catch it as soon as you can—just power through the first half hour and it will click for you too.