Review by John Delia
The film’s not your average Glee offering, but a nice Welsh take on a drama teacher facing some tough going with her musical in the film Hunky Dory. The movie features a fine young cast lead by a charming performance by Minnie Driver who makes the film work. If you are a romantic, arts lover or just like a sweet movie then this little jewel is worth a look.
The plot centers on Vivienne (Minnie Driver) a staunch high school drama teacher who gets a lot of side comments about her different style of schooling. Her students are no help with her image showing their lack of interest and concern about being in a musical. In fact the teen angst gets so out of control at the after school rehearsals and we find some of the characters hounding others and causing problems for the production.
Vivienne choice for the end of the year show is out of the ordinary. Having a nice amount of good vocalists she has chosen to do a takeoff on Shakespeare’s The Tempest using an over-the-top rock band for the orchestra. Many eyebrows get raised and some of the drama students even object. When the two main stars have a falling out over their budding romantic relationship and Vivienne finds herself facing charges regarding her conduct, the bumps in the road start to mount.
Director Marc Evans leads his audience in all directions during most of his film creating doubt and havoc in the classroom and on stage. It’s actually a nice design since we get to know his characters for what they are before he brings them all together for an enjoyable resolve.  I like the set, music and creativity in the year-end show taking Shakespeare to a different level.
Mini Driver gives a great performance as the demanding teacher who takes a little too much interest in her pupils. But the standout performance comes from the support cast with Aneurin Barnard as Davey and the central character in the end of year show The Tempest. Davey takes on the lead role in the play to get closer to Stella played by Danielle Branch and the two look like it’s going somewhere until Stella starts to wander off the path to a rock band member.
Hunky Dory has not been rated by the MPAA but it does contain some language and drug use. This is not Glee and that’s a good thing because it has its own personality and works well at all age levels. Some of the Welsh accents may be a little hard to understand, but the well educated actors know how to use the right expressions to get the point across.
FINAL ANALYSIS:Â A fun film for those who can use a good laugh. (B)
Additional Film Information:
- Cast: Minnie Driver, Aneurin Barnard, Danielle Branch, Robert Pugh, Tom Harries, Haydn Gwynne
- Directed by: Marc Evans
- Genre: Â Â Â Foreign, Comedy, Musical/Performing Arts
- MPAA Rating: Unrated
- Running Time: 1 hr 49 min
- Opening Date: March 30, 2013
- Distributed by: Variance Films