Feelin’ Good?

Now normally when it comes to me watching a film that I like and don’t like, the films that focus all their attention on trying to make the the viewer ‘feel-good’ and ‘find themselves’ with the films narrative is something that for me, is cheesy. Now since I use Netflix and the film that I will be reviewing, Begin Again, is a recent addition into Netflix, I thought I’d open my mind and just watch it. My initial first impressions when looking at the poster of this film, like the one above, were that it was going to have a predictable narrative that you could predict within the first 5 minutes of watching it and that it will constantly have moments where it’ll try to express specific scenes in a ‘feel-good’ manner. After watching the entirety of the feature and you are reading this, I can safely say that my first impressions of it being predictable and cheesy are completely wrong, making me look like a muppet. Begin Again is a simple, heartfelt story that is enjoyable and easy to watch. Even though it does have does moments where it’s attracting the audience to become happy and smiley, it doesn’t take itself to seriously and doesn’t over do it with the cheese that could of been in this film. The performances of both Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo are played in a manner that again, doesn’t over do it; the chemistry of both the characters jell really well and spark off a good drama/ fairy-tale story.

To try and put the narrative into one constructive plot summary, Begin Again focuses on two characters. The first of which is Gretta (Keira Knightley) who with her long-time University song-writing sweetheart Dave (Adam Levine) move to New York when Dave lands a deal with a major music label. However, with Dave being engrossed in his new-found fame and becoming a completely different person because of his aspired success, love-torn Gretta finds her self lost and all alone. Her world takes a turn for the better when Dan (Mark Ruffalo), a disgraced record-label exec, stumbles upon her performing on stage and is immediately captivated and inspired by her raw and light talent. From their first interaction with one another, Gretta and Dan set out to the streets of New York to produce a soundtrack of summer which resolves problems for both our protagonists.

Probably the main reason why this film just about works and holds together and doesn’t go overboard is down to the characters and the two actors of Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo playing them. For me, I sought of understand the criticism of Knightley in the sense that with her filmography, she has pretty much played the same role in films that are similar to one another so films like Pride and Prejudice, Atonement and The Duchess. Moving away from that blunt criticism however, in Knightley’s defence she has done other projects where she has done a professional job. If you remember my review of Never Let Me Go, I thought her performance of Ruth in that story was really something different from what we would expect to see of Knightley and it just shows that she does have a much darker, more serious acting side up her sleeve. Her performance in Begin Again does genuinely feel believable; it does amalgamate well with Director John Carney’s use of cinematography that feels as though I’m watching a Documentary on someone who aspires to be a trendy yet successful musician. The thing is as well with the character that Knightley is playing, it easily could of been again, something that could of gone over the top with the films themes, but thankfully it doesn’t. Equally, most of the praise of the performance of the characters in this film should also be credited to Mark Rufflao. What’s funny about his performance is it’ that yours and my impression of what Mark Ruffalo could be like in real life, without a doubt appears. He is Mark Ruffalo and he is very ruffled for the majority of the time, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. His chemistry and overall character contrast with Knightley’s character makes the film an easy watch. As far as other character performances go, Adam Levine’s portrayal as David who breaks away to become something mainstream is not bad. There really isn’t much to say about it considering he does show up randomly now and than. One supporting actor throughout this film which at times is funny, but at others is completely annoying is James Corden. While he does have his funny moments for instance when he’s taking the mickey on Adam Levine’s beard and is alright in The History Boys, I just get the feeling that HE thinks his own jokes and retorts are funny, which if you are a comedian in the first place, is a bad quality to have. It’s a love and hate thing with Corden.. who knows if I’ll fully like what he does. 

At least one applause should go towards the opening 30 minutes of this film. While I know having non-linear storytelling and showing the story through different perspectives is something that most people find boring and repetitive, in the case of this film, it uses the non-linear storytelling aesthetic rather smartly and effectively. So at the beginning, we see the first song that Gretta performs at this club and when the song ends, it suddenly cuts to Ruffalo’s character staring and being inspired by what Gretta has done. We then revisit that as time loops round to an earlier time when we come back to Ruffalo’s perspective of seeing the song again and as he’s hearing it, he hears the ‘orchestration’ and starts to have all these ideas of what the song Gretta is playing, could turn into. What I like the most out of that seen is the way Dan is imagining how Gretta’s song could turn into. Carney’s clever way of showing the instruments like the piano and the violin play by themselves was something that was imaginative and innovative and in a way, kind of echoes as to what music producers think like. sweeping a side the first 30 minutes now, one of the main central elements that Begin Again is that there’s a fairy-tale element to it which is that Ruffalo is the washed up record producer who essentially wants to get his claws at Gretta’s musical talent because he thinks I can make her into a new star and that through this newly recognition, he can happily go back to his family of his wife and daughter. But, as a matter of fact, what Gretta wants is that she doesn’t want to have the stardom, what she wants is all the stereotypical Indie credentials of recording her songs in a hypie-ish way and not being interested in the record business and not being interested in being sold to some pre package product. The film therefore than is metaphorically speaking out against the music industry and how even though it’s corrupt, it’s a hard business to be successful in and a scene which demonstrates this perfectly is the moment when Dan is being fired by the record company and say’s ‘well I’m taking my painting’ and attempts to take his overly-sized flamboyant painting off the wall which again for me shows how the music industry is to be honest, just ridiculous.

The only downside I have with this film is the music. While I thought the Adam Levine’s song of ‘Lost Stars’ is reasonably good and deserved it’s nomination at the Oscars for Best song, the other musical pieces I feel are a hit and miss. While others may like the music, there will be a large half that will say it’s not their taste due to the fact that it is quite Indie. Having said that however, for the first time with a film that doesn’t over do it with the ‘feel-good’ themes and elements, I did fully enjoy watching it. If you do want to watch it, it has actually just recently surfaced onto Netflix which is one of the reasons why I did this review, it’s fairly a simple enjoyable watch and the characters of the story, hold everything together. As always if you have read the entirety of my review and have made it up to this point, firstly, a big high-five to YOU and secondly, feel free to drop your opinions or thoughts down in the comments section down below. Thank you for reading and I’ll see you soon! 🙂

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ – Alex Rabbitte