In Michael Head’s low-key Irish comedy, a stash of rare music looks like the path to fortune for two hapless friends… if they can travel across the country to collect it.
★★★☆☆
The quirky, male world of a failing record store should be a predictable proposition, replete with nerdish in-jokes and jukebox hits. The bickering pair behind a cash register is a common sight, from Clerks (1994) to High Fidelity (2000), but there is a charming warmth to The Spin; and, refreshingly, a lightly worn respect for vinyl collectors. In the end, it comes closer to the downbeat swing of a British sitcom like Black Books.
Screenwriters Colin Broderick and Mark McCausland, the latter also composing the score, alighted on a road-trip as the vehicle for their gentle character piece. Aspiring singer-songwriter Dermot (Brendan O’Connor) and the potently named Elvis (Owen Colgan) while away their days running Bone Yard Records, whose lack of business is an amusing running joke. Their only daily customer is their landlady (Tara Lynne O’Neill), collecting records in lieu of three months’ worth of unpaid rent.
With the bailiffs looming, Elvis spots an online listing for second-hand vinyl, evidently being sold by someone ignorant of its worth: a stash of old rare recordings from various blues and jazz legends, which they estimate to be worth £40,000. The only trouble is that the farmer selling these lives near Cork while the boys are up in Omagh, Northern Ireland, so the only choice is to hit the road—in Elvis’ mum’s car. Their lack of both money and urgency allow the writers to conjure up obstacles along the way, including brief, surreal acting turns from Maura Higgins and former Pussycat Doll Kimberley Wyatt.
The set-up may offer familiar pleasures, but its execution turns The Spin into something satisfying. Colgan and O’Connor are natural screen performers, whose semi-improvised feel adds to the ingenuous warmth of their friendship. There are moments, including a montage late on, where their relationship becomes more forced; on the other hand, their often absurd digressions in idle moments are always a pleasure, and it’s interesting that so little of their conversation ends up being about music.
Dermot and Elvis are each given their own dramas outside of the trip to contend with as well. Elvis is struggling to maintain a relationship with his daughter, whose mother has married another man, and his lacklustre efforts to find gifts for her adds another level onto the prospect of their fortune. The scenes of his cringing failure at his daughter’s new home are pretty trite, with Elvis of course possessing neither the money nor charm to contend with her new stepdad (Ian Toner): a character whose late reappearance is an enjoyable, unexpected twist.
Meanwhile, Dermot’s fading prospects as a pub singer in Omagh look brighter upon reuniting with old bandmates; could it be that making music, rather than selling it, is his true calling? Ultimately, though these roadblocks are meant to jeopardise the boys’ friendship, the film doesn’t have the heart to truly split them up. It’s a feelgood picture through and through, with stakes just high enough to keep it afloat.
The Verdict
As a passion project from its writer-composer, The Spin offers big-hearted comedy. The intensity of the drama remains low, and its beats can be worked out within the first five minutes, but it’s the honesty and strength of delivery by leads Colgan and O’Connor which more than justify the picture.
Words by Max King
The Spin is out in UK cinemas on 27th February
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