Television and the Internet, for all the stars they’ve produced, have slowly been killing music for quite some time now, oversaturating every conceivable genre. Beyond the occasional reality show contestant and independent musician, no one seems to know how to how to combine real, earnest soulful singing into catchy pop songs anymore. Long ago are the days of Motown.
Luckily, Yahoo has given us the trailer for Wayne Blair’s The Sapphires, the upcoming musical comedy that brings us back to the days of Motown... well, sort of. The film takes place in 1968, and stars Chris O’Dowd (Girls, IT Crowd) as a kind-hearted talent scout who take four Aboriginal sisters from their remote homeland in Australia and takes them on a soul-singing tour of Vietnam, performing for U.S. troops. Though the story will probably tread emotional waters, it still sounds like one of the less-schmaltzy feel-good films in recent memory, and you can see it in action in the trailer below.
Setting it apart from the usual fare is that The Sapphires is an Australian film, and carries with it a different set of sensibilities to a war that has been depicted a million different ways by American writers. Since the main characters aren’t so personally invested in the atrocities of war itself, the focus on bringing entertaining to a troubled setting should ward off the heavy hand of melodrama.
And those voices! Actresses Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens and Miranda Tapsell, even when they’re singing warbly country songs, sound like angels you might find late at night in some smoky non-descript bar in Chicago. It almost goes without saying that O’Dowd seems spotless as the goofy but dedicated guiding light in these young ladies’ lives, and he’s one of few actors out there who can say, “My blood runs Negro, woman,” and you actually want to believe him.
The Sapphires, released months ago in Australia to positive reviews, will be making a limited American run starting March 22.
