Written and directed by John Carney, the man responsible for
Once,
Begin Again is
an enthusiastic musical drama/romantic comedy that embraces the role
that music, and collective inspiration and creativity, can have in the
emotional rehabilitation of people who are need of a fresh start. Mark
Ruffalo is the kind of actor who oozes carefree charm and utilizes
natural mannerisms to give his affable characters added humanism and
complexity. In
Begin Again, like many projects before, he makes
everything look easy, and he always seems to play characters I end up
being a little jealous of. Ruffalo-led films, with the exception of last
year’s terrible
Thanks For Sharing, rarely go sour, and he is a prominent reason why I enjoyed
Begin Again so
much. Also convincing is Keira Knightley, who I am slowly becoming a
fan of. Though it is dubious to call the musical performances ‘live’, it
is Knightley on the vocals and the toe-tapping songs are great.
From the opening minutes, we know that Dan (Ruffalo) is currently a
shadow of his former shadow. He has a teenage daughter (Hailee
Steinfeld) that he never sees, and he has just awoken with a hangover
from an epic bender, brought on by the recent termination of his
position as an executive of a record label. The label had been
struggling, and when he turns up to a meeting drunk, it is the last
straw for his frustrated partner Saul (Mos Def).
The events of the previous night are revealed in flashback, and it
seems there is a silver lining. At one of the bars in the East Village
the very drunk Dan is smitten with Gretta (Knightley), an independent
singer/songwriter who is planning to leave New York following a break-up
with her partner and successful musician Dave (Adam Levine from Maroon
5). Though they write together, and she matches his talent, he has
become the star. The song she performs re-ignites Dan’s creative spirit
and he offers to sign her to the label, a promise he no longer can
guarantee. At first she refuses, but after a change of heart the pair
become friends, and Saul is impressed by the demo they bring to him.
After recruiting a team of talented musicians, Dan and Gretta decide to
record their album at public locations around New York City, grappling
with their feeling for one another along the way.
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