"It's a splitter." (Marc Ruffalo)
"Name me one artist who isn't a commodity and branded." (Marc Ruffalo)
"Dylan" (Keira Knightly)
"There could be no one more commercial. With the sunglasses and the hair. He changes his look every decade." (Marc Ruffalo)
"Randy Newman" (Keira Knightly)
"*stunned*You got me there." (Marc Ruffalo)
Begin Again made me happy. If nothing else mattered, that would be enough.
The obvious comparison for Begin Again is Once given that they are both by the same director and have musical themes. This seems logical. It even has some validity. However, I am not that interested in the comparison as it draws us away from understanding Begin Again as a unique experience and entity.
I found Begin Again to be rather ingeniously layered in terms of circular narratives and themes. Each character ends up finding a solution and closure to their specific woes through empathy, authenticity, and passion. This is not a new theme, but a good one. It made me think about the power of laughter and music to combat wrath and war.
I've occasionally seen movies with a music theme go poorly. Music movies are easy to make adequate by choosing decent music. Great music movies are hard because they require the creation or selection of perfect jaw droppingly parsimonious music.
In the end, Begin Again has music that inspires, but doesn't overpower. The true strength of this movie are the performances by Keira Knightly (who I haven't really liked since Bend It Like Beckham) and strangely enough Adam Levine. I also just nod approval to movies that cast Mos Def and my man Rob Morrow.
From analog to digital, I give Begin Again 3.7 out of 5 stars.
I found Begin Again to be rather ingeniously layered in terms of circular narratives and themes. Each character ends up finding a solution and closure to their specific woes through empathy, authenticity, and passion. This is not a new theme, but a good one. It made me think about the power of laughter and music to combat wrath and war.
I've occasionally seen movies with a music theme go poorly. Music movies are easy to make adequate by choosing decent music. Great music movies are hard because they require the creation or selection of perfect jaw droppingly parsimonious music.
In the end, Begin Again has music that inspires, but doesn't overpower. The true strength of this movie are the performances by Keira Knightly (who I haven't really liked since Bend It Like Beckham) and strangely enough Adam Levine. I also just nod approval to movies that cast Mos Def and my man Rob Morrow.
From analog to digital, I give Begin Again 3.7 out of 5 stars.
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