From the sound of voices singing in the background as the film began, an automatic sense of warmth and communal spirit filled the cinema room. As the title suggests, the film follows the true story of how a group of friends (fishermen, of course) find fame in the music industry when they are discovered by a band executive holidaying in the small and sweet Cornish town of Port Isaac, an ordinary humble area like any other.
With a collision of one world and the other, cosmopolitan London entering the locals’ secluded habitat, sparks fly causing a mixture of comedy and drama to charm audiences, with a few examples of character development and romantic undertones here and there. Themes of friendship and loyalty are also added, causing the audience to leave the cinema with a smile on their face and a sense of satisfaction for having witnessed such a genuine and one of a kind story.
One of my favourite scenes must have been at the start of the movie when the group of London executives first arrive into the area, their clear inexperience with the new environment foregrounded with the simplest action of driving at the wrong end of a narrow one way cobbled street.
It is the scene where the first meeting of the main characters, manager Danny (Daniel Mays, Born to Kill) and the daughter of the ‘Fisherman’s Friends’ lead singer, Alwyn (Tuppence Middleton, Dickensian) occur, the initial non eye-to-eye relationship between them coming into view. I can’t lie, her wittiness and ‘I’m not having any of this nonsense’ style comebacks tied with his arrogance was something I couldn’t help but smile at. As the film progresses, however, we are brought into the fishermen’s world, seeing the daily hard work that they do whilst they sing and perform for the locals on the side.
The moment the Londoners hear these fishermen sing in their local group, running as we are told for an impressive 15 years, is where the differences of the characters personalities shines through. We are taught how Danny was the only one who really saw the group for what they were and not a just joke who should be something to look down purely for being different, like the rest of his team and the managers supposedly did.
There were a couple of quotes that I’d like to share which, for me, epitomised the reason why it was important for their story to be universally brought to the screen. One was when Danny encourages the group to trust him and record one of their ‘traditional sea shanty’s’ in London, revealing themselves to the wide world. He says: “deep down, there’s a sailor in all of us- your songs transport sailors onto distant shores”.
We see of course how much Danny benefits from the gambling chance he takes, his open mindedness surprising even him. Ultimately, his character develops and is enriched greatly as he undertakes a journey of self- growth, discovering the true meaning of happiness and friendship through the inspiration of the fishermen and their love for each other. The local community becomes something he desires to be a part of, not one he wants to leave behind.
On a side note, I was fortunate enough in the most bizarre way to meet one of the cast members themselves on a taxi ride home from Kettering to St Pancras station on Friday morning. Vahid Gold, playing a man with bad sun burn (as he reminded me) on a beach scenes told me: “working on Fisherman’s friends was a dream. Getting to film in Port Isaac was so nice and the locals luckily embarrassed us with all of our trailers and camera equipment! So happy with the way it turned out. I feel like you really get a feel for the magic of the Cornish coast and fishermen themselves”.
Reflecting on his words, it seems to me that the fisherman had a sincere effect on all who came into their presence, as Danny summarises: “they bring back a sense of community I didn’t know existed anymore”.
Experiencing the likes of being asked to sing the Cornish anthem on live TV, and hearing how one of their songs made it to number 9 in the official music chart list, the film shows how musical conventions were challenged: the superficial colliding with the real and words of friendship becoming much more important than a few meaningless lyrics most songs provide us with.