Begin Again - Review

DIRECTED BY: John Carney
WRITTEN BY: John Carney
STARRING: Kiera Knightly, Mark Ruffalo, Adam Levine, Hailee Steinfeld, James Corden

When it comes to movies about artists, I always seem to go into them with a bit of trepidation. Considering they're, you know, made by artists, they have a slight tendency to...I guess romanticize things a little bit. I mean, write what you know, sure, but financially well-off, attractive white people trying to find themselves for an hour and a half can only work for me so many times for me. This particular movie is written and directed by John Carney, whose movie Once was a big hit amongst critics and musician types alike.

The story centers on two people: down on his luck music producer Dan (Ruffalo), and recently heartbroken singer-songwriter Gretta (Knightly). Dan's been booted from the label he co-founded, partially because of his clashing with the direction the label is going, and partially because of his own self-destructive behavior following his separation from his wife. Greta, on the other hand, has had the world she's lived with for the past five years ripped from under her when her boyfriend cheats on her after he hits it big with a major record label. When Dan hears Gretta play in a bar one night, he's so inspired by her that he resolves that he HAS to produce and album for her. The rest of the movie follows their trials and misadventures as they gather their friends together to build their passion into something great despite whatever "the man" tells them.

I went into this movie not knowing anything about what it was about, and all things considered I came away pleasantly surprised. It was sweet when it needed to be, but overall felt more grounded than the initial premise might suggest. Even with a story that lends itself to the occasional cliche and contrivance (really, do we need to see the same "separated father reconnects with his estranged daughter" story again?) it manages to keep interest through really solid performances from the well rounded cast. As it is, its content to stick mostly with what's comfortable, which I guess is fine. If anything I get the feeling that the overarching story here is mostly just meant to be a vehicle for the smaller moments and loosely connected individual scene.

On a technical level its certainly a step up from Once. While Once was filmed almost like a documentary, Begin Again is filmed in a way that's far more like your standard indie film. Its New York, you've seen it a million times on film, but despite the familiar setting it uses a lot of vibrant colors in a way that makes the setting feel uniquely alive. The trade off, though, is that it does feel less raw than Once did. What's weird is that this movie does on occasion dip into "documentary style" for a few shots here and there, which was jarring but never to the point where it completely took me out of the film. There were also a few pretty blatant continuity errors, but I guess that comes with the territory of shooting a low budget film on the streets of New York.

Its refreshing that, unlike a lot of other movies about struggling artists, this one spends its time focused more on the actual creation of art rather than just the superficial aspects of the lifestyle. Instead of romanticizing the appealing idealism of individual artistic achievement, it instead focuses more on the collaboration, people getting together to create rather than it all being about the lead artist. Dave-as-musician only features briefly, with his role as a producer being not just respected, but outright lauded. I also really liked how the movie highlighted how consumer technology and the internet has really lowered the barrier for artists to get their voices heard, which to me was a refreshing outlook. In other words, it's just as much about the process as it is about the result. It's clear that none of these characters would be able to do what they do without the friends and family that help them. They may each be talented in their own right, but its when they pool their talents and hard work together that they make something really worth sharing.

Someone asked me whether or not this was a romance movie. Its not...kind of. Don't get me wrong, there is love and romance and stuff, but it's not front and center what its all about. The relationship between Dave and Gretta is fairly platonic, despite hints at their having feelings for each other. I was waiting the whole time for the plot to take the requisite needless detour into her strained relationship with her now-famous-ex-boyfriend (Levine). The movie would then spend its precious run time on how that ruins all the good she'd been doing pursuing her own passions until she realizes what she really wanted all along. Nope! Not here! Instead the characters actually talk to each other like (*gasp*) adults. We're not pulled into a needlessly contrived will-they-or-won't-they subplot that would have screwed with the brisk narrative pace. I won't spoil how it resolves, but I was taken by just how non-intrusive it was and how much the resolution made with so little time spent on it. There's an undertone that the diverging relationship of Knightly and Levine's characters is illustrates the diverging interests of artists making art for themselves and making it for an audience. It's clear what side the film is on, but it doesn't rely on making people caricatures in order to get its point across (mostly). Once the credits rolled I heard people in the theater calling out "that was it", like maybe they were expecting something more dramatic or something. I personally found it refreshingly low key, completely in line with the tone of the rest of the film.

On the whole, though, I think what I liked most about this movie is that it does feel very...I don't know if I'd say relevant, but timely in a way. After all it's a movie about people facing hard times, I don't think those ever really go out of style. As a college aged person facing the inherent insecurity of going into an artistic field as a career I guess I'm drawn to stories like this regardless of how plausible or not they are. I think I need to keep perspective that that sort of uncertainty never really goes away, that you've gotta make the best of it with your friends and not give up on that. Corny, I know, but what the hell, its good to get a little corniness every once in a while.