Begin Again

There are some films that you know you're going to love before you've actually watched them; 500 Days of Summer and Gatsby for example. When I heard the words 'New York', 'Musical' and 'Keira Knightley' I knew Begin Again would be the same. So here's a slightly redundant recommendation, for the new film by John Carney - Oscar winning director of Once (SOLD!)

An underground music venue, an open mic night and a depressed singer - no, you've not stumbled upon The Optimist's recommendation for Inside Llewyn Davis - although the similarities in this opening scene are striking. This is Begin Again, on the whole, a much more upbeat affair. Unbeknown to Keira Knightley's heartbroken singer/songwriter, with this performance, her luck is about to change - something that never happened for poor Llewyn. Across the bar, a dishevelled music producer played by Mark Ruffalo (whose surname is really fun to say out loud - RUFFalo, RRRuffalooo, try it) has been watching her play through a whisky induced stupor - and it's here, at Gretta and Dan's first meeting, that the film steps into 500 days of Summer territory. Not just a straightforward boy meets girl, this movie is surprising and original.

Five minutes in and Carney's cracking out the flashbacks - this is a director who doesn't mess about. First up, we follow Gretta, who's moved to New York with her newly-signed musician boyfriend Dave, played convincingly by real-life musician and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine. Note to costume designers: dressing this man in a checked shirt and glasses does not stop him looking like a rockstar. Everything's looking rosy as the couple move into a swanky new apartment paid for by Dave's record label, but it turns out their ping-pong playing, coffee-drinking, album recording, picture perfect new life is a bit too good to be true and eventually, it all comes crashing down around Gretta, leading to her sad performance in the bar that night.

Dan's also flashing back - he's woken up hungover, in the middle of the day, on a mattress with no sheets. Searching for someone capable of writing an album good enough to turn his ailing production career around, he's disillusioned and he's turned to drink. After picking his teenage daughter up from school and taking her to a bar - he makes an ill-judged decision to attend a business meeting and subsequently gets fired. One argument with his ex-wife later and he's on the verge of jumping in front of a subway train. Luckily for him though, his alcohol dependency pulls him away from the tracks and into a bar, where Gretta's melancholy ballad provides him with the flash of inspiration he's been searching for.

And thus, we find ourselves watching Gretta's performance a second time - through Dan's eyes. One by one, the instruments behind her on the stage start playing by themselves and her simple track becomes an entirely different beast. With this, it's decided - her album is his for the making and we know that a 'meanwhile in the recording studio' montage can't be far away. It's here though that Carney steps in with a genius twist - let's not use a recording studio, let's use New York! They can record the album on the cheap; at the top of a skyscraper, out on Central Park Lake, in a subway station - it'll sound great and conveniently, since this is a film, it will look great too. And do you know what? He's right - it does! Begin Again's a musical for the Instagram generation.



Now, the songs are good - not unbelievable, but good. This is not a traditional musical, the songs are not intended to be big set pieces or even to particularly tell the story, the characters are musicians; the songs reflect their moods, but they're subtle - much like the songs in Carney's other musical, Once. Keira's got an impressive voice and you can't fault her performances - she is a seasoned actress after all. I found myself wanting to be mates with her in this film, mainly because she comes across as a great gal, but also, I have to admit, because I'd like to be able to share her wardrobe. It has to be said, somewhat predictably, the standout song of the film is performed by Adam Levine. It's slightly ironic that the characters spend all their time talking about how music should be authentic, not over produced, yet the song that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up is the most produced of the lot. This is Lost Stars, the centrepiece of the film - its 'Falling Slowly', if you will. I can't deny it, I got chills when it started.

And so, as I began with a comparison to Inside Llewyn Davis - I'd like to end on one too. You may recall that one of my favourite parts of that film was the ending. Not too predictable, not too showy - satisfying, and for me (in fact possibly, ONLY for me, no one else seemed to agree) uplifting. Begin Again's got one of those too. Upbeat, unexpected, life affirming, it's a strong end to a solid little film and one that I can see growing into a DVD shelf favourite.