Let the movie season 'Begin Again'
Begin Again is everything that counter-programming in summer should be. A smart story that revels in its indie feel while still being accessible to the main stream. This is not the romantic comedy that some trailers made it out to be. Instead, it is a quasi-concert film with Keira Knightley doing most of the songs and Adam Levine in a quasi-cameo and integral role. (He plays the jerk in the film, and his role may have been better if the director had taken an even less is more approach to it.)
It is also a quasi-love letter to the New York where there are parking spaces everywhere that Mark Ruffalo wants to be. In the end, this is a movie that just feels good to watch. Knightley is lovable as is Ruffalo when he isn’t drinking, smoking and popping pills. Hailee Steinfeld lights up every scene that she is in as the teen daughter looking for dad’s attention. Ruffalo is a down on his luck music producer who discovers Knightley singing at an open mic. The story of how they arrived at that point takes up the first act of the film. The rest is their quest to get their lives on track while navigating the bureaucracy of the music industry. This film is truly enjoyable as the viewer can get lost in the moment and it its reality. It is mostly about good people making (finally) the right choices. Those choices sometimes include forgiveness and forgoing the search for bags of money to the detriment of the art. Sometimes, you want to get away from the special effects laden, soulless cacophony of summer blockbusters. If you have had enough of the apes and the robot-cars, you should Begin Again with this movie. Reset your movie clock with a simple film that is perfectly told, perfectly acted and perfectly beautiful. It even ends the way it should rather than the way that Hollywood would have it. |
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