Begin Again

Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Keira Knightley, Hailee Steinfeld, Yasiin Bey, Adam Levine, James Corden, CeeLo Green
Directed by: John Carney
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Music
2014

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A songwriter (Keira Knightley) dealing with being dumped by her musician boyfriend (Adam Levine) finds an unlikely ally in a down-on-his-luck record producer (Mark Ruffalo).

Review:

Tim: I enjoyed director John Carney's Once, a film that effectively blended music and drama to create a compelling story. Seven years later, we get Begin Again, a similarly themed story that features a more impressive cast and a more experienced director. I thoroughly enjoyed this film and consider it one of the bigger surprises of 2014. While the movie might not quite be great (but Carney will get there eventually), this is a very, very good movie.

What first turned me onto this movie was one scene. I was sitting on a plane and this movie was playing. I never watch movies on planes (the screen is too small so it ruins the experience), but I happened to look up and see the scene where Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley were sharing earphones, walking through New York listening to music. That scene visually (I couldn't hear it) was so compelling, I had to track the film down. I'm very glad I did.

I love when movies blend music into the story. Music is such a tremendously important part of life and Carney has this wonderful way of making movies about music. In this case, the main characters are all musicians or have music deeply embedded into their lives. It's the one thing that brings everyone together. The music scenes were incredible because you just saw the joy pouring out of everyone involved. Perhaps my favorite scene is when Ruffalo sees and hears Knightley playing her song in the bar. From her perspective, it didn't go very well. With his expert ear, however, you see other musical instruments come to life as he mentally envisions what the song can become. The depiction of his mental process was fascinating and it made think that's what true genius would look like. Carney directs that scene expertly and it remains my favorite of the film.

The cast is very strong. Keira Knightley is an actress I usually dismiss as being fairly lightweight, but this performance was a reminder that she does have some talent. Besides a few scenes where she felt lackluster, for the most part, I thought she gave an engrossing, charismatic performance. She felt like an everywoman that anyone could identify with. She was strong and determined, yet fragile in a sense. It's a very good performance. I loved Mark Ruffalo here. Ruffalo is really a great actor and yet doesn't get the credit he deserves. He's just this likeable, fun actor to watch. He takes a role like this and perfectly walks the line between being unlikeable and just a fun rogue. His performance was the best of the film and just very, very impressive.

Hailee Steinfeld was fine. I'm starting to think she gets a little too much credit as an actress, but I had no real complaints. I always love seeing Catherine Keener, but I wish she had more to do. Adam Levine was fine, but it's obvious the guy isn't a real actor. He had little to no charisma on screen. James Corden was surprisingly good and CeeLo Green was fun, even if he's a worse actor than Levine. As a whole, though, the cast was quite solid and I loved that Carney wrote some meaty roles for women (Hollywood take note!).

As a whole, Begin Again is just this affirming, wonderful, fun little movie. It was enjoyable from start to finish and felt unique enough to be refreshing. While I needed to see more of an emotional connection with the characters for this to be great, it's a step up from the already good Once. I'm looking forward to seeing what John Carney does next.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Once