Begin Again
Directed by: John Carney
Written by: John Carney
Starring: Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Hailee Steinfeld, Adam Levine, James Corden, Yasiin Bey, Cee Lo Green, Catherine Keener
Comedy/Drama/Music/Romance - 104 min
Written by: John Carney
Starring: Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Hailee Steinfeld, Adam Levine, James Corden, Yasiin Bey, Cee Lo Green, Catherine Keener
Comedy/Drama/Music/Romance - 104 min
Movies tend to hold music, especially the songwriting and recording process, on a pedestal. No matter what transpires in the outside world, the artist holed up in a darkened studio with a scratchpad and pencil ferreting out lyrics is sacrosanct. Arty, tortured souls seek out and then wax nostalgic about their process’s integrity and how deep, meaningful, and personal their songs are. In the real world, these platitudes come off as artificial and are as easy to pick apart as looking at the liner notes to see the poser did not write their own songs at all, but are merely the most visible part of a pre-packaged product designed to please the least common denominator.
In Begin Again, the recording process and resulting songs act more as life-cleansing elixirs rather than aiming to be the next Billboard chart toppers. The songs help an alcoholic, borderline suicidal record producer stop drinking. They cheer up a morose and shell-shocked girl with a broken heart and then even go so far as to bring together an estranged father and daughter who cannot connect with each other without the tunes. The songs and creative process in Begin Again are omnipotent, benevolent answers to a diverse range of problems.
In Begin Again, the recording process and resulting songs act more as life-cleansing elixirs rather than aiming to be the next Billboard chart toppers. The songs help an alcoholic, borderline suicidal record producer stop drinking. They cheer up a morose and shell-shocked girl with a broken heart and then even go so far as to bring together an estranged father and daughter who cannot connect with each other without the tunes. The songs and creative process in Begin Again are omnipotent, benevolent answers to a diverse range of problems.
It is not surprising music arrives with so much life-affirming power when you learn John Carney directed Begin Again. In 2006, Carney delivered the movie Once to theaters. It spawned a Tony-award winning Broadway musical and even won an Oscar for its centerpiece original song, “Falling Slowly.” Once chronicled an unsigned, raw musician with bottled up tunes in his head he just had to record in the studio. Sinking all of his money and life prospects into the recording, Once is the epitome showcase of the fierce integrity involved in bringing out music from the soul.
Begin Again is poppier than Once. The songs move at a faster metronomic pace and there are even other instruments involved than the solo acoustic guitar. Greta (Keira Knightley, 2012’s Anna Karenina) is a Brit marooned in New York City after her boyfriend, Dave (Maroon 5’s Adam Levine) break ups with her when he signs a major record deal and feels he owes it to his new legion of female acolytes to provide them with his personal attention and affection. It does not matter that Greta wrote most of his songs; she must be left behind when the bright, neon lights of the future beckon.
A life-saving coincidence occurs at an open mic night at a crowded bar when Greta, shyly plucking out a song about what else, a dumped girl wandering around a big city, is seen by Dan (Mark Ruffalo, 2013’s Now You See Me). Ruffalo, recently in Thanks for Sharing (2013) playing a sex addict, is now an alcohol addict drunk just about every hour of the day and was just fired from his record firm he co-founded. This guy who has a golden ear for the next hit has reached rock bottom. Exactly why he spiraled down so far is muddled; there is something about marital problems yet the film makes it seem like it is the music. He has not heard a genuine artist in so long it is taking its toll on him mentally and is not doing his liver too many favors either.
With a noticeable lack of subtlety, Greta and Dan need each other. Greta needs Dan to produce and record her radio friendly music about boys dumping girls and Dan needs Greta to save his life. He hears her potential, knows he found the genuine article, and at the same time, their musical collaboration helps him talk to his troubled teenage daughter and even soberly chat with his estranged wife. Carney is nothing if not over the top about the transformative power of music.
Begin Again is a mostly by the numbers plot and earns praise for not succumbing to easy distractors such as allowing a sexual relationship to grow between Greta and Dan or make ex-boyfriend Dave overtly cruel. Dave is pretty much a good guy but discovers he cannot settle for his college sweetheart when the Manhattan co-eds swoon at his every note. The friendship between Greta and Dan would catapult into something more in most lackluster rom-coms, but Carney is wise enough to leave it alone.
There are also a few eyebrow-raising scenes stylistically. When Dan unexpectedly sees Greta perform for the first time, he sees much more than a lonely girl on a stage hiding behind a guitar. The piano starts to play by itself, the drumsticks strike the snare by themselves, a cello stands upright, and Dan visually sees what he can make the song into. Further into the film, when Greta and Dan truly start to connect and understand one another, they listen to music while walking around Manhattan, which provides a jaunty soundtrack as they take in the sites. They sneak into a dance club with throbbing techno music but they are dancing to Stevie Wonder instead lost in their own world.
Begin Again follows a path trail blazed by 2007’s Music and Lyrics rather than Once. It will be palatable to just about every film-going demographic because it offers us no punch. It is cute and easy to digest for there is no weight or extra dimensions. No conflict is strong enough to survive the almighty pop song.
Begin Again follows a path trail blazed by 2007’s Music and Lyrics rather than Once. It will be palatable to just about every film-going demographic because it offers us no punch. It is cute and easy to digest for there is no weight or extra dimensions. No conflict is strong enough to survive the almighty pop song.
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