Begin Again (2013)

• Year: 2013
• Released: 11 Jul 2014
• Country: United States
• Adwords: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 5 wins & 18 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1980929/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Begin_Again
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/begin-again
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Comedy, Drama, Music
• Runtime: 104 min
• Writer: John Carney
• Director: John Carney
• Cast: Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Adam Levine
• Keywords: new york city, singer-songwriter, recording session, street musician, music recording,

	7.4/10
	62/100
	80% – Audience

Begin Again Storyline

In New York City, Gretta James and Dan Mulligan meet by chance at the end of arguably one of the worst days in both their lives. Native Brit Gretta, primarily a songwriter who sings on the side, only came to New York to support her musical collaborator and boyfriend Dave Kohl, who is on the brink of pop music stardom as one of the songs he wrote and performed was featured on a movie soundtrack, he getting a record deal in the process. They broke up earlier in the day on Gretta discovering that he has been having an affair with one of the executives at the record label. Middle-aged Dan has long been divorced from Miriam, his wife of eighteen years, they now barely on speaking terms. He has just had another strained encounter with their fourteen year old daughter, Violet, in whose life he has largely been absent since the split in his destructive behavior, which includes self-medicating with alcohol to cope. Not having signed anyone in seven years, he is fired by his partner Saul from the independent record label, Distressed Records, that he founded. All these items in combination, including having no money, result in Dan being on the brink of suicide. Gretta and Dan meet when he hears her sing at a bar, her friend, Steve, the bar act that evening, who was able to convince reluctant her to sing a song she wrote. While no one else in the bar seemed really to pay attention to her performance, Dan could visualize the potential in her and the song in a produced setting. Eventually being up front with her that he has no money and is no longer officially with Distressed, he is still able to convince her to take a chance on him and herself in a musical collaboration. Without the resources, they will have to get others to buy into their vision, it ending up being an ode to New York City of sorts. Regardless of what happens on the musical side of the collaboration, Gretta and Dan may provide that much needed external point of view for the other to get their respective lives back on track in a comprehensive manner.

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Begin Again Movie Reviews

From the start

Can a song save your life? Or a film about it? The former question is what the movies title originally was going to be. But lets get back to Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley, both of whom are exceptional in this. There is also Adam Levine (he plays sort of a version of himself or what the general public thinks of him and he’s doing a great job too) and Catherine Keener.

Put this cast together with a really good script, that actually avoids quite a lot of the typical romantic comedy clichés. You genuinely don’t know where this is going. It might have to do that this is first a movie about music and then about human love. So it’s love for music first and then the rest. It doesn’t mean, it doesn’t love it’s character though. Quite the contrary! They are very nicely drawn, which makes this a very entertaining watch.

good but not as great as Once

Dan Mulligan (Mark Ruffalo) is a drunken executive of an indie record label. He headed A&R at Island Records for 2 years before starting his own label Distressed Records with Saul Byron (Yasiin Bey). However he has been down and out for years. He’s separated from his wife Miriam (Catherine Keener) and estranged from his daughter Violet (Hailee Steinfeld). He gets fired from his own label and then he sees Gretta James (Keira Knightley) performing at a bar after she’s pushed onto the stage by her friend Steve (James Corden). She had come to NYC with boyfriend Dave Kohl (Adam Levine). Dave became an overnight success after his music got onto a movie. He cheated on her and they broke up right before that night at the bar.

Writer/director John Carney fails to relive the same magic as his big breakout ‘Once’. It would be a disservice to dismiss this movie for failing to jump that high bar. It’s hard to capture magic twice especially in a similar fashion. My first opinion as I watched the movie is that Dan is from another era and Carney is past his due date. Then it turns out that Dan is actually coming from another era. His character quickly grows on me. Keira Knightley is a great actress but only an adequate singer. On the other hand, Adam Levine is the exact opposite. They’re both good enough at their weaker sides to make this movie work. Their scenes together are good with Keira doing most of the heavy lifting. Keira’s singing is weak but the group production is able to pump her up. James Corden adds a little fun. I was also a little hesitant about the flashbacks and forwards until the imaginary musical instruments scene. That is a wonderful touch. It’s also a terrific love note to NYC.

Strong movie with two convincing lead performances.

(Also don’t read this if you want to avoid spoilers for “Once”.)

“Begin Again” was written and directed by John Carney, responsible for the wonderful 2006 music movie “Once” and here, with a much more prominent cast, he did not let me down either. This movie was originally intended to go by the title “Can A Song Save Your Life?” and I’m glad they changed it, as admittedly it did sound a little pretentious. “Begin Again” fits the story very well too.

The first half has many leaps in time, so we see how Ruffalo’s and Knightley’s characters meet for the first time from their own perspectives. I liked that a lot. What I also liked was Knightley’s singing, especially in these scenes when there is no orchestra or band playing. Something raw about it! Back to the scene where they meet for the first time (or I should probably say where she sings and he listens): He had a few drinks before and imagines her voice going together with a full orchestra. This was possibly the highlight of the whole movie for me. Really well done and it left a lasting impression. I wanted to swing with Ruffalo’s character there.

Now that I mentioned my favorite already, here is some more scenes that I deemed significant:

The ending was expected, if you have seen “Once”. It seems a bit of the director’s trademark to pick something that the audience will not totally love, but understand. You wonder during the whole film if they get together (it probably even looked more that way in “Once” than here). I have read different interpretations here, but my thoughts were that Levine’s character played the song the way she wanted him to and she sees how the audience loves that version and is deeply impressed. Obviously, we see Ruffalo’s character getting together with his ex-wife again and it seems like Greta makes the same decision.

One indicator is the ear-phones she sends back, which is a bit of a sign that at least their romantic relationship is gone. These played a major role in an earlier scene, where they connect by sharing their playlists and both listening them at the same time by sharing the earphones just the way Ruffalo’s character did when he met his wife years ago. In the end he sits on a bench back together with his wife and these two sharing the earphones. Earlier there is a scene where he gets in a car with Greta and the wife (Catherine Keener) looks at him through the door. Later on, it is exactly the other way around. Ruffalo’s character gets in the car with his ex-wife and Greta looks at the two. Nice parallel here.

Adam Levine, I’m not really familiar with his music except one or two songs and I would not call him a particularly gifted actor after watching this one, but the part seemed good for him. He gave a credible performance.

What stayed in mind was the Jerry Maguire quote from early on. These two are not completely the same, but actually there are a few parallels. I won’t go further into detail here in order to avoid spoilers for a third movie.

Hailee Steinfeld was not a highlight here. She gave a wonderful performance in “True Grit” and is possibly the most talented actress under 20 right now, but her character’s development was just so predictable just like the whole transformation that came from her bonding with Knightley’s character. She looks up to her, dresses differently and evolves character-wise, but there was nothing fresh about her storyline. It has all been done many many times before. She made the most of it, but I felt she was a bit wasted here.

Another scene I really loved was the moment when the two central characters really make a connection, namely when Ruffalo’s character tells Knightley’s character that it was his wife who cheated on him. The hug from behind is one of the most beautiful shots of the movie year 2013.

Other than that, there were quite a few record label references, which I did not find too interesting, but if you are more into the actual physical creation of music, you may disagree. I liked seeing Mos Def again though, eight years after his excellent performance in “16 Blocks”.

A negative point would be the inclusion of police (rooftop, metro station). I did not really like how they used it to show how the central characters were so alternative and just did what they liked to the level that it was illegal. No need to bring that in. It just seems forced to make them even more likable, but the two already were anyway.

Greta’s platonic friend was played by James Corden. Random note: He will replace Craig Ferguson as host of “The Late Late Show” in 2015. Solid performance, nothing outstanding. I liked how he was the polar opposite to Adam Levine’s character: a street musician, neither rich nor famous, but completely authentic. Another interesting snippet is how both men (one early on, one at the end) ask Greta to come to the stage and sing and she only did it for Corden’s character.

There is a reference to alcoholism included too, but this is not what the movie is about, so I liked that they did not go further into detail. Had they elaborated on it, it might have left a more serious aftertaste that could have hurt the overall picture.

For the most part, everything worked very well and with the exception of some very minor criticisms (Ruffalo’s speech against Levine’s character at Greta’s apartment felt to self-indulgent, Levine risking a longtime relationship with Greta for Mimi not too credible). In the end, this is not really a love story, but much more about forgiveness. However, the most important thing here is the music of course.