Begin Again might be about relationships, but it’s hardly a run-of-the-mill romantic comedy. Rather, it’s a splendid love letter to New York that made me wish my last trip to NYC was longer.
After Dan (Mark Ruffalo) makes a fool of himself in a big meeting, he deals with his misery at a dive bar, where he hears Gretta (Keira Knightley) singing on stage. Gretta planned to pack her bags and return to England once she learned of her boyfriend’s infidelity, but Dan convinces her to stay and record an album with him. The film then follows Dan and Gretta around New York as they make an album on a shoestring budget.
They record wherever they can—alleyways, rooftops, sidewalks, you name it. As the band grows and the track list gets longer, Dan and Gretta share details about their troubled relationships.
Gretta’s ex-boyfriend Dave (Adam Levine) relishes his newfound fame as a pop star. As his hideous hipster-ish beard grows, so does his ego. He doesn’t admit to being lonely on the road until Gretta drunkenly sings about her feelings on his voicemail.
Meanwhile, Dan tries to make up for lost time with his teenaged daughter Violet (Hailee Steinfeld). Dan hardly recognizes Violet in her barely-there outfit when he picks her up at school. However, as Gretta befriends Violet, she teaches Violet how to attract attention from the right guys by dressing more appropriately. Violet’s transformation into a mature musician was my favourite subplot.
The film is refreshingly low-tech. Though there are a few texts back and forth between Gretta and Dave, the film focuses on music and relationships, without distractions. Dan is a record label exec who should be on top of technology trends, so giving him a flip phone effectively shows how he is out of the loop. Before discovering Gretta, he hadn’t signed a new act in years. In fact, he finds new pop music so appalling that he tosses demo CDs out his car window.
Keira Knightley is charming as an indie-pop singer-songwriter and Mark Ruffalo was the right choice to portray a scruffy A&R guy. Adam Levine’s acting debut was average. I’d rather see him on stage in a Maroon 5 concert than in another film.
Begin Again is a sweet film about art and love. Its soundtrack may not be entirely memorable, but the songs are decent and the story is delightful.