Begin Again Review

Begin Again

Begin Again is the movie that has left a deep impression on me. Although this movie isn’t related to my passions(technology & travel), I want to share my ideas with you about Begin Again(Complex).

Summary:

The genre of this movie is romance and drama and a director of this movie is John Carney who has opened new horizon for music movie with ‘Once’. The plot of Begin Again goes as follows.

Dan Mulligan (Mark Ruffalo) is a music producer living in New York City who lives separated from his wife and struggling to keep up with the changing music industry. After being fired from his job, he goes bar to drinking.(Complex) He encounters Gretta James (Keira Knightley). She is an independent songwriter who has just broken up with her boyfriend and a successful musician Dave Kohl (Adam Levine). Captivated by Gretta’s music, Dan proposes that he and Gretta produce their own album together, to be recorded live at various locations around New York City. Recruiting a team of talented musicians, Dan sets out to make an album. During this time, Dan and Gretta bond both personally and professionally, and Gretta takes Dan’s teenage daughter Violet who is a novice guitarist.(Compound) When Gretta sees Dave accepting an award on television, she criticizes him for selling out to the music industry and she expresses her grievances with him in a song which she records on his voice mail. Dave returns her call and asks to see her after he gets voice mail.(Complex) He try to make up their relationship again; however, Gretta feels betrayed by Dave’s heavily commercialized performance.(Compound) Afterwards, Dan prepares to move back home, and she tells him that she does not want him to publish her album, instead preferring to distribute it online. He agrees to let Gretta release the album online and helps her to promote the release.

In this movie, there are several factors attracting our attention. First is a music. Music is major character in the film. There are 16 songs in this movie. Not only John Carney but also Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green who won a Grammy Awards and Mos Def, famous hip-hop musician, participated in to compose songs. Great songs created by them makes the film interesting. The other noticeable thing casting. The main characters are Mark Ruffalo who has portrayed the Hulk and Keira Knightley appearing in many hit films such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Pride and Prejudice. She had a hard train before taking the movie and acted as a talented singer. Also, there are famous actors and actresses playing as supporting actors. Hailee Steinfeld, playing a Dan’s daughter, practiced guitar performance for this film. Adam Levine who played Dave is maroon5 member. He is real sing a songwriter. I was surprised his acting ability. Before I noticed that he is maroon 5 member, I thought he is actor. I think great music and excellent actors built amazing movie.

Opinion:

Begin Again starts off with music and ends with music. I think in this film main characters are songs. They lead a whole story. I was fascinated by the songs. Actually, after I watched Begin Again, I downloaded the songs as soon as I arrived home.(Complex) I love them!

There are several things I felt in this movie. First, I realized that music can be the medium of communication between people. In this film, there many scenes represent my idea. For example, Gretta presents song as a gift to his boyfriend for his birthday, and he is touched by the song.(Compound) Another scene I remember is that when Dave notifies their breaking up, he gives a song to Gretta.(Complex) She gets angry and slaps on his face. Another one is that Dan becomes close to his family while he pruduces music with her daughter.(Complex) I could recognized music can be an effective way to communicate with others. Next, I could feel that same song can deliver different feelings depending on players. ‘Lost star’ played by Gretta for Dave and the song played by Dave in front of audience gave different feelings. It was interesting to compare songs watching the film.

In addition, the background of the movie was fascinating my mind. I have visited New York last summer vacation. It brought back my memories in there, and I felt familiar with various spaces in the movie. It made me focus on the movie deeply.

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A memorable line of dialogue

Dan: That’s what I love about music.  All these banalities suddenly turn into beautiful pearls.

I agree with this statement. When I am depressed, I listen to music. Focusing on songs makes me relax and feel better. 🙂