BEGIN AGAIN || Review

Begin Again Review: By Hannah

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Film: Begin Again

Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Keira Knightley, James Corden, Hailee Steinfield, Adam Levine

Directed and Written: John Carney

Imdb synopsis: A chance encounter between a disgraced music-business executive and a young singer-songwriter new to Manhattan turns into a promising collaboration between the two talents.

My rating: 8/10

This review is not 100% spoiler free. 

I’d been looking forward to seeing this film for a very long time and I am very, very glad that I finally got round to it. I knew from the premise (and the fact it’s directed by John Carney, who directed Once, probably my favourite musical ever) that this film would be something that I’d like. Incidentally, I wasn’t wrong. It was kind of beautiful, even if I am still left questioning if Keira Knightley can actually sing or not. 

The movie follows a drunken, messed-up music exec Dan (Ruffalo) and feisty, heart-broken songwriter Gretta (Knightley) and how they both use their talents to produce an album, using the streets of New York as their recording studio. Dan is divorced and constantly wandering the streets in various states of drunkenness with no money like that I’m having an alcohol-fuelled breakdown cliché we all know so well. He’s also got a daughter Violet (Steinfield) who he’s inadvertently fucked up because of his drinking, causing her to dress like she’s easy and become slightly sociopathic. Gretta, on the other hand, is fresh out of a relationship (by fresh, I mean when the film starts, she’s literally just got out of it) after her bastard singer boyfriend Dave (Levine – who I do not find sexy at all, despite what anyone says) plays her a song which she knows is for someone else. It’s on one night at some dingy bar in New York City that Dan and Gretta meet, and Dan has some “drunk magic powers” which means he can make arrangements in his head and Gretta is the next sensation he’s been looking for his whole career.

There are some stunning scenes in the movie – like when Dan and Gretta wander New York City listening to the same iPod, and you can tell they’re falling in love with the way they make each other feel. How the homeless vibe coming off Dan is actually kind of endearing: how you’re seeing a man falling apart and slowly piecing himself back together again because of music (and Gretta). It’s a film about beginning again, wiping the slate clean. And you definitely get that message by the end of the movie.

But for me, it’s the music that makes the movie. Even though the storyline is funny and absorbing and heartbreaking and beautiful, the music is what brings all the scenes together and forges and breaks relationships. Knightley’s voice is what you could call an “acquired taste” that not everyone will like – it’s raspy and sweet, but questionable – yet it undeniably fits the songs. Gretta and Dave’s breakdown is shown completely through music, him selling himself out with poppy tunes that have lost their meanings while she stays loyal to original lyrics (and, thank God, stays loyal to herself). The soundtrack is definitely worth a download.

I think I would watch Begin Again more than once and still enjoy the story. I’m a romantic at heart, therefore the ending doesn’t quite match with what I wanted out the film, but it still seems fitting. The story is unique (despite the wandering drunk stereotype) and the tender moments between Dan and Gretta give you goose-bumps. I’d say it’s a story about unconditional love, music, family and never selling yourself short. And, of course, it’s about the endless possibilities that only New York can offer and how it can bring people together.

Watch this film. Please? I can guarantee you’ll enjoy it.