Begin Again - Movie Review

This movie is so up my street in every way. A love triangle involving three troubled souls who through their love of making music somehow find a way to muddle through - and end up touching a lout of souls. 

The movie was formerly called "Can a Song Save Your Life?" and to me, yes, I think it can. Precisely what this blog is about - that through their work, artists, musicians, actors, writers, can touch the golden thread of humanity which runs through races, generations, nations - and make a difference. 

The movie stars Keira Knightley as Gretta, Mark Ruffalo as Dan Mulligan, Adam Levine as Dave Kohl, Gretta's ex-boyfriend, Hailee Steinfeld as Violet Mulligan, Dan and Miriam's daughter, James Corden as Steve, Gretta's best friend, CeeLo Green as Trouble Gum, Mos Def as Saul, Dan's long-time business partner and Catherine Keener as Miriam, Dan's divorced spouse. 

Dan Mulligan (Mark Ruffalo) is a struggling record label executive living in New York City. One night, while drinking at a bar in the East Village, he encounters Gretta (Keira Knightley), a young and fiercely independent British songwriter whose music captivates him. Dan offers to sign her to his company's label. But Gretta wants to do art for the sake of art and turns him down. He leaves, but when she exits the bar, Dan is waiting for her and convinces her to join him for a drink. The stories of both protagonists are revealed through flashbacks. Dan has recently broken up with his wife and has a troubled teenage daughter. Gretta has just found out her boyfriend - on his way up to becoming a rock star - has cheated on her. 

Set to a backdrop of great music and captivating scenery shot around New York City, the story progresses. My friend Bev accompanied me and had this to say, which I agree with: At certain times during the film, it felt like the music was another actor, a member of the cast, a sentient being within the realm of the movie...

I am particularly impressed with Mark Ruffalo and I have been so ever since I saw him in The Normal Heart which recently won an Emmy for Outstanding Television Movie. He is of course best known for his role as the Hulk but he is proving again and again that he is an actor who is capable of playing roles that are demanding and meaningful. I think he is someone to watch closely. He carries this role well. Dan Mulligan has not been the greatest father, but he has his own pain and has had to deal with quite a few things, not the least of which is the preconception that as the ex-husband the break up of the marriage was entirely his fault. The arrival of Gretta on the scene reignites his passion for life and Mark Ruffalo manages to gain our sympathy as well as reserve a certain something. 

His career is on the rise and it's exciting to be a spectator. 

Keira Knightley is excellent as Gretta. In the movie she is compared to Nora Jones, and in the movie her character rejects this comparison. The similarities are there, but Gretta is perhaps just a little more out the box than the sometimes formulaic Nora. I don't know whether I'm just infatuated with the British accent but I found that her accent coupled with the exquisite footage around New York made me feel almost like I was a tourist in New York too. I related to her.  I enjoyed the performance of Adam Levine as Dave Kohl and had a number of good chuckles at James Corden as Steve, Gretta's best friend. He is the type of loving brotherly best friend that every girl should have and I wish I had. 

For girls, this is a nice movie to see. For musicians, it's a GREAT movie to see. For those like me who probably will never get to see New York in person, see this. For lovers of the movies and music and life, see it. And for boys who want to impress their girls - take her to this one. 

We saw this at Ster Kinekor at The Zone in Rosebank 

M is for the Movies

This is such a broad topic that it's been a bit daunting for me. I think the broadness of the topic gave me writers block, but I decided today to just sit down and do it! I don't think that any article I write could hope to do full justice to this topic, unless I wrote something the length of the Bible, but there is no doubt about it - movies have played a massive role in the development of popular culture.

Maybe the way to go about this is to just discuss some of the movies that have had a great influence in my life. Even that is a subject which is almost too big to take on! There are so many. Grease, Dirty Dancing (covered in a post of its own)

You built a time machine out of a DeLorean?

One of them is the now cult classic Back to the Future. It kind of makes me feel old to think that one of my favourite movies is a cult classic. But - there it is. Back to the Future is just awesome in every way. It starred Michael J Fox, and in 1985, who could resist a movie that featured a DeLorean as a Time Machine, went back 30 years to what was a fabulous era - the 50s - and then, in the second movie, went FORWARD to the future. I think one of the reasons it's become a classic is that we still haven't reached the future of BTTF - we are all still waiting to see whether cars fly and skateboards hover in 2015 (despite all the internet memes that the day has arrived, it hasn't. The big day will be October 21st, 2015!

Mamma said life is like a box of chocolates. You never
know what you're gonna get. 

Another of my favourites is Forrest Gump. And if you ask me why, I'd have to tell you I don't know. The movie has some of everything. Love, war, triumph of the underdog, awesome scenery, and Tom Hanks - who as Forrest brings across an incredible portrayal of a character who faces many different scenarios and roles. The music in the movie is incredible too. I walked three times to the cinema to see it and got it on DVD when it came out. Forrest Gump I guess was just something that made you believe a better life was possible.

There's something about going to the MOVIES, though, that makes the whole experience amazing. There's probably no better way to sum it up than to play this song from Annie, which although it may be a bit cheesy, tells how I feel. And Annie itself is a bit of a cult classic now too which makes it even more fitting.

"Let's go to the movies, let's go see the stars".. I guess that about sums it up. We've a fascination with the rich and famous.




Wouldn't it be nice if there was still all this fanfare about movies?

The movies themselves obviously have influence on popular culture. One that comes to mind is "It's a Wonderful Life" starring James Stewart. (may be a bit of a vague reference, but for decades after just about every family watched It's a Wonderful Life at Christmas). I was watching Home Alone 2, ANOTHER classic and saw the family in Home Alone watching it!

Some less than intelligent ways that movies impact culture are in the animal world - after Finding Nemo, a spike came in the popularity of clown fish, after Lassie, a spike in the popularity of the collie - the problem comes in when the recipient can't or won't care for the animal.

And who can forget the awesome trend of the 80s, breakdancing? Most certainly inspired by the movies Flashdance and Footloose. It made all the boys in school who could do it seem very attractive to me.

In Project X of 2012, a group of teenagers have a party in the absence of their parents. The party quickly gets out of control - drugs, guns and a whole neighbourhood fire ensure. Stupidly, according to the website Listverse.com, many kids are emulating this. DRugs, guns, taking over empty buildings - and the problem is widespread, so much so that Warner Brothers issued a statement along the lines of “Guys. It’s a movie. Knock it off.”

To round off the article with a local context, I'm always reminded of the old Jeremy Taylor song Ag Pleez Daddy when I think of the movies. 

Ag pleez deddy won’t you take us to the drive-in
All six, seven of us, eight, nine, ten
We wanna see a flick about
Tarzan and the Ape-men
And when the show is over you can bring us back again

Chorus:
Popcorn, chewing gum, peanuts and bubble gum
Ice cream, candy floss and Eskimo Pie ... and I won't go on, because it gets a bit rude :-)

And there - I wrote my M is for Movies post, which shows that if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.