Hunky Dory (2011)

In the heat of the summer of 1976, drama teacher Vivienne fights sweltering heat and general teenage apathy to put on an end-of-term version of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Director:

Marc Evans

Writer:

Laurence Coriat (screenplay)

Stars:

Minnie Driver, Kristian Gwilliam, Adam Byard

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Minnie Driver	...	Vivienne Mae
Kristian Gwilliam	...	Hoople
Aneurin Barnard	...	Davey
Tom Rhys Harries	...	Evan (as Tom Harries)
Adam Byard	...	Lewis
Danielle Branch	...	Stella
Kimberley Nixon	...	Vicki
Kayleigh Bennett	...	Dena
Darren Evans	...	Kenny
Dafydd Llyr-Thomas	...	Syd / Member, Cwmtawe Community School Choir
Robert Pugh	...	Headmaster (as Bob Pugh)
Jodi Davis	...	Mandy (as Jodie Davis)
Ryan Hacker	...	Daz
Lewis Coster	...	Davy's Friend
Sam Shervill	...	Davy's Friend

Storyline

In the heat of the summer of 1976, keen drama teacher Vivienne fights sweltering heat and general teenage apathy to put on an end of year music version of Shakespeare's The Tempest. To engage her students, she uses hits of the time, which will be performed by a fresh young cast led by rising star Aneurin Barnard.

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Plot Keywords:

shakespeare's the tempest | year 1976 | band | confidence | smile | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Music

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Port Talbot was chosen as one of the filming locations because it had working steel mill. This provided a good background for the working class poverty of Welsh miners and factory workers the producers wanted to portray.

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Goofs

The song Livin' Thing (written by Jeff Lynne, performed by ELO), did not chart in the UK until 13 Nov 1976 and would not have been known during the Summer of 76.

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Quotes

Miss Valentine: So, as we've discussed, class is measured by sociologists in terms of income, education and... values. To give an example, I am middle class. You would be working class. Right, any questions?
[school bell rings]
Miss Valentine: Class dismissed.

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Crazy Credits

All The Car Booters of South Wales (you know who you are)

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Connections

References The Incredible Hulk (1977)

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Soundtracks

Turnin' My Heartbeat Up
Written by Bobby Flax and Lanny Lambert
Performed by The M.V.P's

User Reviews

Okay plot, Decent film, good cast.

A half decent film in terms of plot and a good film in terms of acting. The only thing that annoyed me slightly with the acting was Kristian Gwilliam who I thought was awful. Interesting to see how many actors from this film have now gone on to appear in Stella, I think that shows how well the cast worked as a unit.

The pace did feel a little off at times where you get a sudden change of direction before reverting to the original pace of the film almost as if a scene had been cut out.

I would have liked to have seen a bit more of some of the characters back stories in the first half of the film and I think the film should have been made a bit longer to accommodate that. The character of Lewis in particular who was well played by Adam Byard seemed to feature a lot more prominently in the second half of the film compared to the first. I also thought that some of the cast were a bit under used with Di Botcher particularly taking a very minor role and given her past experience in Twin Town and that she has since gone on to be in Stella I was surprised to see her in such a minor role. Overall a decent film which im giving 6 out of 10 which isn't a bad rating off me considering I don't usually go for musicals.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 March 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hunky Dory

Filming Locations:

Wales, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,443, 24 March 2013

Gross USA:

$20,296

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$139,653

Company Credits

Production Co:

Film Agency for Wales, Wales Creative IP Fund, Eyepatch

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1