Film School Radio hosted by Mike Kaspar

God Help the Girl , Director Stuart Murdoch

God Help the Girl poster

In God Help the Girl, writer/director Stuart Murdoch creates a poignant coming-of-age story that doubles as a sublime indie-pop musical from one of indie pop’s biggest songwriters. The project began as a suite of songs, written while Murdoch was between records and tours as lead singer of Belle & Sebastian. He nurtured it for nearly a decade into a fully formed film, set in the bohemian fantasia of Glasgow’s West End, which is populated by mods, rockers, and emo kids who have no qualms about breaking into song and dance. Stuart aspired to tell the story of “a better summer, or at least a summer when something happened. It happened to a boy and a girl and a girl in a city roughly the same size and population of Glasgow. Stuart joins us for a conversation on the joys and challenges of creating art in different mediums, music and film.

For news and updates on God Help the Girl go to: us.godhelpthegirl.com/

“God Help the Girl” is a classic movie musical where people burst into songs of crystal purity whenever something is on their minds…a lively, playful, completely charming film” – Kenneth Turan, LA Times

“The whole phantasmagorical enterprise is so sweetly confident that it just about gets away with its entirely casual approach to believability.” – Catherine Bray, Time Out

“God Help The Girl is ultimately an affirmation of life and music: a quirky little how-to manual on surviving the worst of youth by learning how to contain it within a frame. “ – Noel Murray, The Dissolve

“God Help the Girl has a ramshackle charm and the naked sincerity of an earnest adolescent. It cuddles up; it wins you over.” – Xan Brooks, The Observer

“With bouncy pop tunes and a breezy tone, this Scottish musical sometimes feels so weightless that it seems to float right out of existence. At other times it’s startlingly dark and moving, touching on earthy emotions and important themes.” – Rich Cline, Contactmusic