Begin Again (2014)
By Mart Noorkõiv on Sep 27, 2014
Directed by John Carney
Starring Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Adam Levine, Hailee Steinfeld, Mos Def, Catherine Keener, CeeLo Green, James Corden
104 min
After the lightning in a bottle that was John Carney’s Once (2006), which won the best original song Oscar, he brings another music filled journey to the screens of two unlikely (and unlucky) people meeting and making that sweet, sweet...music together (refreshingly Carney avoids the usual boy meets girl cliches and Begin Again can’t certainly be categorized as a romantic comedy). This time Carney has a significantly bigger budget and a star studded cast to work with but the music still remains the true heart of the film.
The love of music and the knowledge of its craft radiates from frame to frame. The true test of a good music themed film is when you can’t stop singing its tunes after the movie ends and in this regard Begin Again succeeds wonderfully. Performed mainly by Keira Knightley and Adam Levine (of Maroon 5) who play a broken up couple when the movie starts, eventually jumping back in time to show how they ended up this way.
They do an excellent job (Knightley being the surprise here, of course) with admittedly great material. The best word to describe the music
and the whole energy of the movie is, infectious. Other highpoints of the cast besides Knightley and Levine (and a memorable cameo role by
CeeLo Green) is definitely Mark Ruffalo who brings his usual rough-and-tumble charm to the role of a failing record producer who after a disastrous day is ready to throw his life away onto the subway tracks, until he drunkenly hears Knightley’s character sing in a low grade corner bar (the original title of the movie was Can a Song Save Your Life?). He proves yet again that any movie is better with his mere presence.
Despite a larger canvas to work with Carney hasn’t lost his authentic touch, so powerful in Once. Though not as dramatic or emotional as that movie was, this is still a perfect feel-good musical yarn that keeps you humming long after.
"That’s what I love about music. All these banalities suddenly turn into beautiful pearls."