Begin Again. How often does a movie from the very first scene make you just a little misty eyed? Begin Again is just that type of movie. It begins in a small local New York City music venue. Steve (James Corden) is finishing up his singer-songwriter music set. He understands he’s just part of a long music gig list, but he wants his friend to sing a song. He asks the crowd if they’d be willing to listen to Greta (Keira Knightley). Folks agree, but she is very hesitant. The encouragement continues and so she relents. She picks up a guitar and starts to sing a heartfelt song about a recent breakup. Everyone is listening to her song for perhaps a breath or two and then the hushed conversations start between friends. The conversations soon turn louder and only a handful of people are still giving her their attention. The camera focuses in on one of those individuals, Dan (Mark Ruffalo).
The movie comes back to this scene twice again in quick order, taking it in from the perspectives of Dan and Greta. Dan’s perspective starts at the beginning of the day. He’s the co-founder of an indie record label. He’s in a personal multi-year downward spiral, caused by the fact that his wife, Miriam (Catherine Keener), left him. He wakes up and then quickly falls back asleep. He wakes back up and realizes that it is way too late in the day. He rushes out the door, grabbing a manila envelope filled with CDs that was left at his door. Jumping into his car, he starts going through the CDs, listening to a lot of awful music. He picks up his daughter, Violet (Hailee Steinfeld), at school and then rushes off to his label’s office. He is very late for a meeting where the discussion revolves around musicians providing commentary to their music. He thinks it is an awful idea. Well, his co-founder has had enough with dealing with his partner’s emotional state and fires him. Dan eventually finds his way to the local music venue.
Greta’s story takes us back a few weeks. She’s arriving in New York City from the UK with her boyfriend, Dave (Adam Levine). Dave is a musician hitting break-out status. A movie that features his music is selling out in New York theaters so his music label puts the two of them up in the city. Music stardom and the perks that comes with it for a male musician is a near definite for him as he’s quickly recognized by three young women who gush over him. It isn’t long before Greta discovers that Dave is cheating on her. She heads on over to her fellow expat friend Steve, who is singing on the sidewalk. He settles her into his tight studio apartment and then drags her off to the local music venue.
After Greta’s song at the venue, Dan introduces himself and the two agree that he will help her produce an album. They decide they’ll record the album across New York City. The scenes across the city will have you falling in love with her music and maybe just maybe have you wishing that you’d taken those music lessons a bit more seriously and those science, math, history and literature courses a little less so.
What I love so much about this movie are the nuggets of small moments within many of the scenes. Greta and Steve decide one night to send a “f-you song” voice mail to Dave. In the middle of the song, Steve takes out a kazoo and starts to play it. Greta turns her head and shoots him a look, which sends the kazoo back where it belongs. There’s a scene where Dan is getting ready to pitch Greta to his ex-music partner. He rushes off to Miriam’s house where for some reason he still has most of his belongings. As he’s taking a shower, Miriam takes a quick downward look in the direction of a certain part of the male body. In some ways, his renewed passion is drawing her back to him. During one of the recordings, Violet is asked to play her guitar. She finally joins in (probably after hours of them recording various versions of the song). Her amp acts up and first Steve and then Greta come over to work on the amp. And finally, just back to that first scene (not that there aren’t additional moments that my fingers are just itching to type out). It immediately had me thinking about Hotel Café here in Los Angeles, which has a very similar vibe to that New York venue. For those who go to these singer-songwriter venues, please raise your hands if you’ve never been guilty of being one of those audience members who talked through someone’s set. I think all of us who love the local music scene in our perspective cities are guilty of such moments. At Hotel Café, most of the time a “shh” is quickly sent into the air, which makes Greta’s moment on the stage so emotionally raw because no one comes to her aid.
Take a quiet moment and see this movie.
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