Begin Again
Director: John Carney
Writer: John Carney
Cast: Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Adam Levine, Hailee Steinfeld, James Corden, Mos Def, Catherine Keener, Rob Morrow, CeeLo Green

Plot:
Dan (Mark Ruffalo) is a producer. Or rather, he used to be – these days he’s mostly drinking and despairing at the state of the music industry, while his estranged wife Miriam (Catherine Keener) and equally estranged daughter Violet (Hailee Steinfeld) grow ever more frustrated about it. After he loses his job, despite having funded the company he worked for together with his friend Saul (Mos Def), he hits a new low. That’s when he hears Gretta (Keira Knightley) sing and falls in love with her music. But Gretta sees herself as a songwriter only and is not interested in a career as a singer, especially since she just had a bad break-up with her newly made superstar of a boyfriend (Adam Levine). But Dan convinces her that they should record an album together.

Begin Again [German title absurdly enough “Can a Song Save Your Life?”] might not be quite as magical as Once was, but it is a sweet film with a very nice soundtrack that I enjoyed a lot.

When it comes to the romantic relationships, this film is fantastic. There is romance, but it is always clear when romance has to stop and change before it can be rightfully called romance again. Sometimes it never will be again. And it also knows when relationships just shouldn’t be romantic, period. Not getting a romantic storyline forced down our throats was pretty refreshing

In other areas the film isn’t as great. That we get a backstory and a bit of personality for all of Gretta’s band members – except the two black guys who are basically only stand-ins for CeeLo Green was… let’s call it unfortunate. And the advice that Gretta gave Violet – which boils down to “don’t be so slutty or the boy you like will never ask you out” – was slut-shaming and stupid. That it led to Violet not only starting to dress like a future soccer mom, but getting the boy and ultimately having a better relationship with her parents was aggravating.

But the positive sides of the film outweighed those negative things. Most of all the music, of course, which was beautiful (I’m listening to it as I write this review and I’m constantly smiling and nodding along). I also liked how the film ended, including a bit of criticism of capitalism.

There was also the wonderfully likeable cast. From Mark Ruffalo to Adam Levine (who was hilarious – I’m really glad that The Voice made me like him) they all did great jobs with their characters. And I was surprised by Keira Knightley’s singing – she isn’t even half bad. I didn’t expect her to be any good at all to be honest. I’m happy I was wrong. And I’m pretty happy with the film in general.

Summarizing: I may not have loved it, but I really enjoyed it.