"Function at the Junction" [Google Video] is a terrific 14-minute video from 2002, like a mash-up of Swing Kids and Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, set in the swinging dance scene of the 1970s. Director Justin McCardle captures the spirit of Northern Soul in 1976: the genre had taken England by storm and here you can see why. While the DJ rocks geekily out, kids in cardigans and beehives show all sorts of hep moves - and then stand in awe when three competing dancers try out their routines. The plotline's got shady characters, bets, violence, men in their underpants - but it's the dancing that steals the show, like a mixture of kung-fu and 50s jive. The dancing and those sweet, sweet old songs.
