Begin Again
John Carney is attempting to get the success he had with Once, but bigger. Real stars this time, bigger budget and a bigger city. Of course, New York. How can it be a proper musical outside of New York? Up the production on sound and music quality. Keep the story simple, focus on the making of the music. Gotta work, right?
Well, it should. But there's one problem. The music. The music is the heart of any of this kind of film. It needs to speak for itself, to push and pull our emotions, to stir us. Once has that. Most great musicals do, from Seven Brides to Fiddler to Mary Poppins. The music in this film is... meh. Over-produced, sapping out whatever wonder it might have had. The very first scene (interestingly portrayed from three different perspectives) we see Knightley singing in a New York pub and Ruffalo hears great music. The problem is, I didn't, in any of the iterations of the song. I had no idea why she stood out from the other performers. I didn't hear it in any of the later songs, although the guitar solo in Tell Me If you Want to Go Home was well built up and the context of Like a Fool really added to the song. But it was all lackluster.
And then we have Adam Levine who seemed like he was wearing a mask with every line he said. Why are you in love with him? He's a facade, a shell!
Nice moments, it's great to see Ruffalo and Catherine Keener on screen, but I'm just happy to see them more than I'm impressed by their performances.