God Help the Girl

I feel it would be easy to tear this one to pieces but why would anyone want to? It's a musical which boasts a wonderful soundtrack. It's vintage. It's quant. It's charming. It's engaging. It's cute. It's wry. It's angsty. It's all in good fun. The story is a little basic but it doesn't reveal itself all at once which makes it rewarding. Overall good show from Murdoch's first crack at film.

If you watch this film you automatically become white for 24hours after. Be careful!

God help the spectator.

God Help the Girl is a movie by someone with no experience making films, and it kind of shows. The musical segments are great, and the whole experience works as a very, very light entertainment, but the plot is super thin, the characters are shallow, and any hints at depth or more important issues wind up staying at that level; they're never explored. The songs are catchy and fun, but the film is far too long to justify sitting through it to hear them.

good movie

Wildly inconsistent but pleasantly quaint and deeply felt, God Help the Girl works because the songs and the music are so attuned to its characters' emotional beats.

reminder that the new york times criticised this for not being 'gritty' enough.

Du début à la fin, le film fait dans la pure mélancolie bucolique, avec des chansons qui se marient à merveille avec le tourbillon d’émotions qui défilent à l'écran. Et comme Emily Browning attire la gentillesse, ce rôle lui va comme un gant. On inspire et on expire, ça fait un bien fou, et même si les thèmes sont sérieux (dépression, anorexie, solitude...), la morale est positive à 100%. Si tu n'aimes pas la bande-son de God Help The Girl, laisse tomber, la musique n'est pas faite pour toi !

All three leads are very likeable and the music is appropriate - although not to my taste - however it all feels a bit 'fabricated' and as though Murdoch is putting too much faith in predicting the thoughts and feelings of the viewer (as Orson Welles said many times, paraphrasing here, "there is no such thing as 'the' audience in cinema - it's unknowable - and so you can only ever make films for yourself".)

It's like a dream with beautiful music :)

Gaggingly delicate, and it is trying so hard. I felt very little for these people.

Stuart Murdoch is awesome. This movie is not.

I'm a big fan of Belle & Sebastian, but being able to write great music does not give you also the skills to direct a musical.

I speak english and I needed subs for this at parts. I probably would've liked this more at like 17.

Murdoch is an exceptional songwriter, but his lack of experience in filmmaking is painfully apparent from the flighty narrative, dull characterisation and weak direction. None of the dramatic elements hit home and the musical numbers are only decent at best, such that the film's really not that enjoyable an experience at all. It's a shame given his ambition as an artist.

Vielleicht wäre es besser gewesen, sämtliche Szenen mit Songs zu unterlegen? Die Geschichte einfach auf das Nötigste herunter zu schrauben und sich ganz auf das Flair der Musik zu verlassen?(...) die ganze Rezension sowie unsere favorisierten Musikerfilme gibts auf cinegeek.de

Star Rating: ★★★1/2

I thought I'd be put off from the musical nature of the film, but they do handle it well. The music is very good and easy listening. Felt like it didn't want to get too deep into the darker side of the characters, which is okay, but it just meant that it wasn't as effective as a narrative.

I'm sure there are plenty of people who would dismiss this film as just indie/hipster garbage, and although I'm not sure I could necessarily argue against that, I enjoyed this. I'm a Belle and Sebastian fan, so I guess I'm already predisposed to liking it. But yeah, I thought it was sweet, endearing and I couldn't help getting swept up in some of it, despite myself. The songs are nice, and the three leads are likable, with Emily Browning being especially charming.

Cute. Extra points for being fashionable as f***.

You could easily criticise how kitschy this film is, but in truth it's pretty charming and the music is a cut above the material from most musicals on screen of a similar genre.

Haven't looked at the reviews but I'm guessing some cynical people --I sound like Armond White!-- are going to arrange the words "indie", "quirky", "twee" and "not as good as 'Once'" in varying orders and combinations. Bah! I liked this better. The story is paper thin, but the songs. These are some pretty great songs. Kind of have to be to carry 120 minutes. Beautifully captures those magic little windows when you meet interesting new people and, just for a moment, any/everything seems possible.

Good song and dance scenes, bad dialogue, bad acting. Makes you cringe.

gosh.. those hipsters and their non-existing problems

If you're averse to tweeness, and it doesn't get any more twee than "Belle and Sebastian: The Musical", stay very far away from this. This film will infuriate you with all of its affectations and aggressive cuteness. But if you can get past that, or if your tolerance is higher, this is a perfectly charming musical with shades of Nouvelle Vague and Jacques Demy. The music is slight but catchy, and Murdoch's direction is creative enough. It's cinematic candy for those who don't cloy easily.

Cute and colorful and light as a feather. And most of the songs are pleasant, to boot. Commence massive crush on Emily Browning in 3, 2...

Appeals to my very twee sensibilities and name drops Roddy Frame, so obviously I love it.

A little slow and the music was flat.

müziğiyle yükseliyor ama çok dağınık ve gereksizce uzuyor.

Coming from someone who absolutely loves the soundtrack, I'm quite disappointed; there is no appeal and no structure in this movie, and I only watched until the end because the music pushed me through it.

This is a movie musical written and directed by the lead singer/songwriter of Belle and Sebastian, which is literally all the information anyone should need to know whether they're going to preemptively love this or hate it almost by default (and i suspect if you find yourself watching this to begin with you know which side you stand on). That said, this is everything you should expect from that description, for better or for worse. Also it has Cassie from Skins, because of course it does.

I just don't get what's all the fuss about. I might be too old for this. It could have been nicely awkward coming of age drama but all this random dancing, posing and attention to the outfits made it feel like never ending music video with some forced deep and dark story 'behind' that just doesn't stick at all. Could have enjoyed music without the movie so much better :>

I've waited for awhile for this release and it was just as I expected - a cute Sunday feel-good sing-along. Costume designer must've been so darn proud of herself. Kinda too quirky and childish at some points, at least for my taste.

Amazing how much Emily Browning looks like Anna Karina. There's a movie with Anna singing and being cute too. This film is twee as fuck. Steven Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian took the notion of 'pure, perfect pop' and applied it to film. Sensitive bastards will love this film. I paused the film regularly so I could focus on waves of happiness and sometimes of happiness and sadness combined it sent rushing through my body.

Extremely enjoyable, although it helps if you love the music as the film is quite slight.