6 Festivals review – schmaltzy coming-of-age drama goes for the heartstrings

‘James’s favourite things are music festivals and friends, so what better way to spend the last leg of his life?’ … Rory Potter, right, as James, on stage with Dune Rats in the film 6 Festivals. Photograph: Paramount+

Macario De Souza’s coming-of-age drama opens idyllically, with its three young principal characters on a dinghy floating down a sunkissed river while partaking in that most ’Strayan of recreations: drinking goon straight from the bag. As if this moment wasn’t sweet enough, in a two-buck-chuck kind of way, James (Rory Potter), Summer (Yasmin Honeychurch) and Maxie (Rasmus King) then sing Powerfinger’s My Happiness in soul-stirring unity, Maxie even standing up for the chorus as a lens flare lights up the frame. James caps off a beautiful moment by delivering the salutation, “Cheers, cunts!”