Critic’s Pick: ‘God Help the Girl’ a tuneful delight

Labor Day is past us, and the fall, with its wave of prestige pictures, is just about to begin, but before it does, make an attempt to catch up with “God Help the Girl.” The lively, self-aware musical has such a will-o’-the-wisp quality that you fear it will disappear if you attempt to fence it in. As written and directed by Belle & Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch, this song-filled story of three young Scots who join forces to make not love but music during a magical Glasgow summer is hard to resist. It’s a classic tuner in which people burst into supremely melodic songs whenever something is on their minds. Murdoch called it “Our little hymn to the possibility of healing in music” when he introduced the film at Sundance (where it won an award), and that’s about as close as you’re going to get.