Begin Again
Jul. 18th, 2015 01:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grimrose_eilwynnI watched Begin Again last night, with Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley. This is my review of the movie.
(SPOILERS)
First, I would like the movie anyway, because it's about a bunch of musicians and musical producers in New York and that's just beautiful to me. But in any case, music is portrayed magnificently in the movie.
Take the opening scene for example. Keira Knightly, who plays Gretta, is playing guitar and singing at an open mic night. Mark Ruffalo, who plays Dan, hears her song and is inspired by it. The scene is shown from both perspectives, hers and his. From her point of view, we hear people talking all throughout the song because all she sees is their lack of interest. From his point of view, as she starts singing the world fades away. Then he hears other instruments slowly start to layer themselves on top of hers as he imagines what the song could be.
A great deal of commentary is given on the music business in general. Toward the end of the movie, for example, Gretta has recorded an album all on her own and finally won over an initially reluctant production company to release her music. They tell her that the CDs will sell for 10 dollars -- they will get nine and she will get one, for every CD sold. Gretta asks why they get so much of her money if they didn't help her produce the album. In the end, she releases the CD online, without the company's permission, for one dollar per CD. She gets the same amount of money she would have otherwise, but they get none.
I love the concept of her album that Dan and Gretta come up with, as well. They decide to record a CD outside, each song at a different scene in New York city, with a bunch of struggling home-grown musicians as her background. Whatever happens -- people shouting, sirens blaring, police running to arrest them -- they record it. They record the CD in alleys, on rooftops, in boats -- everywhere they can think of. All their equipment is bought by hand and entirely mobile.
Music is rhapsodized about in the movie as well. Dan describes music as something that can turn banalities into beauty. When you listen to music, even the most mundane things can seem pregnant with meaning.
Then there's Dan himself. He starts out the movie as a heavy drinker and smoker, disenchanted and separated from his family. (Even bipolar disorder is hinted at -- his teenage daughter is seeing a psychiatrist for "strange behavior.") Throughout the movie, there's a slow evolution as Gretta inspires him to reconnect with his wife and daughter and to clean himself up.
Then there's the friendship between Dan and Gretta. Their attachment is not romantic, and I love the movie for that. Dan and Gretta are very good friends, and they're good for each other. Gretta is also friends with and a positive influence on Dan's teenage daughter.
I really liked Dan's daughter. She's tough, sarcastic, and aware of her surroundings. She's sexually open, but still struggling to find herself. Unlike her father, she is under treatment for her mental illness, most likely at the behest of her mother. She struggles with making friends and being taken advantage of by older boys.
There are actually lots of good friends in Begin Again. Gretta's friend in New York is friendly, hard to rattle, and supportive, especially in the wake of Gretta's breakup with her boyfriend.
Gretta's breakup with her boyfriend is excellently done. It's a good lesson on how heady the music industry can get, and how quickly it can total otherwise strong relationships. Gretta's boyfriend is one of those who becomes addicted to the feeling of being famous, and it is said (perhaps pessimistically) that once you hit that point you will never be able to make just one particular woman happy. Gretta herself seems to stay away from her ex because she knows he will always be drawn to all those women who now admire him.
The ending is as happy as it could be under the circumstances. Gretta makes it as a musician and stays away from her cheating ex. Dan reunites with his wife and daughter and gets his job at the musical production company back. I'm always a big fan of positive endings, so that was a really nice wrap-up for me.
(SPOILERS)
First, I would like the movie anyway, because it's about a bunch of musicians and musical producers in New York and that's just beautiful to me. But in any case, music is portrayed magnificently in the movie.
Take the opening scene for example. Keira Knightly, who plays Gretta, is playing guitar and singing at an open mic night. Mark Ruffalo, who plays Dan, hears her song and is inspired by it. The scene is shown from both perspectives, hers and his. From her point of view, we hear people talking all throughout the song because all she sees is their lack of interest. From his point of view, as she starts singing the world fades away. Then he hears other instruments slowly start to layer themselves on top of hers as he imagines what the song could be.
A great deal of commentary is given on the music business in general. Toward the end of the movie, for example, Gretta has recorded an album all on her own and finally won over an initially reluctant production company to release her music. They tell her that the CDs will sell for 10 dollars -- they will get nine and she will get one, for every CD sold. Gretta asks why they get so much of her money if they didn't help her produce the album. In the end, she releases the CD online, without the company's permission, for one dollar per CD. She gets the same amount of money she would have otherwise, but they get none.
I love the concept of her album that Dan and Gretta come up with, as well. They decide to record a CD outside, each song at a different scene in New York city, with a bunch of struggling home-grown musicians as her background. Whatever happens -- people shouting, sirens blaring, police running to arrest them -- they record it. They record the CD in alleys, on rooftops, in boats -- everywhere they can think of. All their equipment is bought by hand and entirely mobile.
Music is rhapsodized about in the movie as well. Dan describes music as something that can turn banalities into beauty. When you listen to music, even the most mundane things can seem pregnant with meaning.
Then there's Dan himself. He starts out the movie as a heavy drinker and smoker, disenchanted and separated from his family. (Even bipolar disorder is hinted at -- his teenage daughter is seeing a psychiatrist for "strange behavior.") Throughout the movie, there's a slow evolution as Gretta inspires him to reconnect with his wife and daughter and to clean himself up.
Then there's the friendship between Dan and Gretta. Their attachment is not romantic, and I love the movie for that. Dan and Gretta are very good friends, and they're good for each other. Gretta is also friends with and a positive influence on Dan's teenage daughter.
I really liked Dan's daughter. She's tough, sarcastic, and aware of her surroundings. She's sexually open, but still struggling to find herself. Unlike her father, she is under treatment for her mental illness, most likely at the behest of her mother. She struggles with making friends and being taken advantage of by older boys.
There are actually lots of good friends in Begin Again. Gretta's friend in New York is friendly, hard to rattle, and supportive, especially in the wake of Gretta's breakup with her boyfriend.
Gretta's breakup with her boyfriend is excellently done. It's a good lesson on how heady the music industry can get, and how quickly it can total otherwise strong relationships. Gretta's boyfriend is one of those who becomes addicted to the feeling of being famous, and it is said (perhaps pessimistically) that once you hit that point you will never be able to make just one particular woman happy. Gretta herself seems to stay away from her ex because she knows he will always be drawn to all those women who now admire him.
The ending is as happy as it could be under the circumstances. Gretta makes it as a musician and stays away from her cheating ex. Dan reunites with his wife and daughter and gets his job at the musical production company back. I'm always a big fan of positive endings, so that was a really nice wrap-up for me.
