Watch: A choir film to break your hearts

Watch: A choir film to break your hearts

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norman lebrecht

April 17, 2017

As a special Easter treat, we bring you Kristof Deák’s Sing, the Best short film Oscar winner of 2017. 

A childhood drama set in 1990s Budapest, it follows an award winning school choir and the new girl who uncovers its ugly secret.

Sing (Best short film Oscar winner 2017) + subtitles from lasliem on Vimeo.

Comments

  • Steven Holloway says:

    Very moving indeed. No surprise it won an Oscar.

  • V.Lind says:

    Yes, it’s charming. But it sends out mixed signals. It attests to the “give everyone a prize” theory of school races, where nobody “loses” and everybody “wins.” Can’t see the choir’s inclusion policy working in the basketball team.

    Either it is an inclusionary choir — in which case is is an activity and SHOULD be open to all — or it is an elite choir, made up of the members good enough for competition. This is usually managed by audition, and would result in some members being left behind in competition outings. The villain of the piece is obviously the choir mistress, who seems to want all the love AND all the prizes. The children’s revenge is predictable, sweet, and unlikely (when did that many children ever cooperate so seamlessly?). But the messages were muddled.

    It was indeed moving — the children were wonderful, and the story just good enough to hold me (I thought they might all turn out to be Roma kids, or whatever). No surprise it won an Oscar indeed — quite well made, and sentimental, and morally indefensible.

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