Last night, I decided to give Sierra one of my unofficial dating litmus tests. We watched The Commitments.
For those who don’t know—and given the fact that I’ve never actually talked about this movie on the blog in all these years, I’m not surprised if you don’t—The Commitments happens to be one of my all-time personal favorite movies.
It’s a story about a young man named Jimmy Rabbitte who lives in Dublin, Ireland. He’s a music enthusiast, but more on the business end—actually making music happen. He pulls together a band, starting with a few of his friends, and decides they are going to play soul music. 1960s, Motown, Aretha Franklin, that kind of thing.
The movie takes you through the whole process of auditioning band members, getting the crew together, their struggles with finding a place to play and equipment, and ultimately through their first few gigs.
Directed by Alan Parker and based on the novel by Roddy Doyle, it was shot entirely on location in Ireland, and the aesthetic gives you this raw, working-class feel of Dublin in the early 1990s. As great as the humor and visuals are, perhaps the movie’s greatest strength is that they didn’t cast professional actors who could maybe sing. They cast bona fide musicians and asked them to act. The standout is Andrew Strong as lead singer Deco Cuffe, who was only about 16 at the time. Because they cast actual musicians, the soundtrack is comprised entirely of soul remakes performed live on set by the cast themselves—which is a huge part of why that raw energy feels so authentic.
There’s that classic monologue where Jimmy is trying to sell the band on soul music. He tells them, “Dubliners are the blacks of Europe. Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin… So say it loud, I’m black and I’m proud.” He explains that soul is the rhythm of the working class, and that it has a way of “taking you up by the short and curlies and lifting you out of your shite.”
As kids, my brother Guillaume and I were so inspired by the movie that he went out and bought the soundtrack albums, and I bought the movie on both VHS and eventually DVD. Guillaume actually played in a band in high school for a few years, but neither of us ever quite got the itch to start a band ourselves. If anything, the movie just intensified our overall appreciation and passion for music in general.
The movie itself is hilarious, and the ending carries that distinct, bittersweet weight. But the music and the raw vibe of soul really drive the whole thing. There really is something to the movie’s philosophy that soul is the rhythm of the working class and the rhythm of sex. It’s just a great movie to watch with someone you love, because they’re singing about love, sex, and the raw way those things make you feel.
There’s this incredible, real vibe when the band sings “At the Dark End of the Street.” At one point, I stopped for a moment just to watch Lynn watching the movie. And, of course, we made out a bit.
I’m not sure why I view this movie as a litmus test for the women I date. It’s not to say every woman I’ve ever dated has watched this movie with me—though most of them have, and the ones who haven’t are obviously no longer around. But by that train of thought, everybody I’ve ever dated except for Sierra is no longer around.
Though, to be fair, Sierra did say to me, “I want to watch something that you wanna watch.” She even offered, “I want to watch a Star Trek movie with you if you want to.” I tried to talk her off that ledge because I know she probably would’ve regretted saying that later on.
Rebuilding a life takes grit, consistency, and a lot of ‘Option C’ thinking. Having crossed the 1,000-day milestone, I’m now charting the territory beyond. The mission remains the same: No glitz. Just the work. New to the blog? Start your journey here to see the blueprint and the ‘Tricorder’ perspective behind the rebuild.
Today’s post is inspired by the WordPress Daily Prompt. While I’ve taken the topic in my own direction for the Road beyond 1,000 Days, you can find more responses to today’s prompt HERE.
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The article “Rob Reviews: The Commitments (1991)” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.
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