Sociable Movie Guy
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A Feel-Good Film with Equally-Good Soundtracks Music and sappy romantic story, same old same old. That was the first impression I got from seeing ‘Begin Again’ poster on the web. Originally titled ‘Can A Song Save Your Life’, this film tells the story of Gretta (Keira Knightley), a singer-songwriter who bumps into Dan (Mark Ruffalo), a once-successful music executive. Both just experienced a bad day of their life, the former just broke up with her boyfriend while the latter just got fired from his job. Together, they form a rather unique relationship that eventually helps them back on their feet. I have to admit that my first impression was wrong. The film does revolve around music and has romantic feels all over it. But the director (John Carney) successfully brings the mature-romantic tone into the film, not the one that will exploit you to cry your heart out. And here you can also see how good he is in handling the music aspect in the film. The music in ‘Begin Again’ is not just the background and sweetener. It drives the whole story and has real impact to the characters. This is actually unsurprising since Carney had directed another successful film with the same theme in the past called Once (2006). In fact, the film snagged an Oscar in 2008 for Best Original Song (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova – Falling Slowly) which I believe some of you have heard. Let’s move on to the songs shall we. It appears to me that Carney also has a gift in choosing what songs suit the best for his films. Particularly in ‘Begin Again’, most of the songs work like a magnet to your ear. You can just humming them the minute you finish listen to the songs. Kudos to composer Gregg Alexander for crafting such pleasurable tunes! Off all the songs sung in the film, my personal favorite (and looks like everybody’s favorite too) is ‘Lost Stars’. It’s very, very addictive.
Story-wise, the film offers nothing new to the table. Thankfully, there’s this handful of charming cast that really elevate the story. Both Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo are irresistible and who knew that Ms. Knightley could sing really well? On the supporting bench, Adam Levine, James Corden, Hailee Steinfeld, Katherine Keener, Mos Def give fine performances too. Although a little bit more of Hailee Steinfeld would not hurt anybody. All in all, ‘Begin Again’ is a laid-back and at times heartfelt film. Armored with plenty of catchy songs, the tunes and the lyrics will definitely linger in your head long after the credit ends. Score: 3.5/5
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AuthorA self-acclaimed movie guy who likes to socialize |