Writer: Cinnamon Lion

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Watch this if you liked: “Not Fade Away”, “Whiplash”

The Good, the Bad and the Singer:

• Right off the bat, the film's premise sounds a lot like "Whiplash" with its tale of an abusive teacher and a student struggling to meet his expectations. But it is different in the sense that the melancholic messages in the movie will move the viewers to tears (e.g. the boys do not retain their beautiful singing voices forever, as they will change after hitting puberty).

• Dustin Hoffman gives off a sense of solitude that works well for this movie, but never doing too much until he outshines Garrett Wareing, the young actor who plays Stret perfectly.

• The plot may be predictable and cliched, but director François Girard managed to keep the audience engaged by keeping the scenes short and easy to digest.

Trivia:

• Garrett Wareing (Stet) broke his left arm days before filming in Texas. He had to shoot his scenes in a splint and only had it cast after filming wrapped.

Cinema Online, 24 March 2015