Charming and surprisingly unsentimental romcom defies genre expectations

Rating: 7/10 (29 July 2019)

Charming and surprisingly unsentimental romcom defies genre expectations. Keira Knightly plays a NYC songwriter who's just broke up with her singer boyfriend, Maroon 5's Adam Levine who cheated on her. While feeling down, a friend drags her to a small venue where he's performing and pushes her onto stage where she's discovered by a down on his luck record producer, Mark Ruffalo. The easy romcom path would either have Knightly and Ruffalo falling in love or would have the two learn and grow from each other and then find happiness with their respected partners. Instead, the film plays against conventions and it's quickly apparent to the audience that writer/director John Carney wants to make a much more realistic story of love, forgiveness, and redemption, where at the end of the day everything is not all neatly wrapped up in a bow. Knightly and Ruffalo appear more as real people dealing with real situations than your typical romcom characters. Their sincere performances bolster the strong strips and this realism of their characters and emotions give the film an earnestness that's missing from similar stories. "Begin Again" is also a celebration of music. From the heartfelt lyrics Knightly pours into her songs about her relationships or a magical moment early on in the film when Ruffalo listens to Knightly play a song on an acoustic guitar in a bar to an indifferent audience while he imagines added layers of drums, piano, guitars, and strings, seeing in his mind (along with the audience) what the song could become. The film is greatly helped in that this story of musicians, songwriters, and producers features songs that are actually good. These songs were written by Gregg Alexander and Glen Hansard of The New Radicals ("You Get What You Give"), and they are full of feeling that perfectly capture the pathos of the characters while at the same time are actual catchy tunes. There are also excellent supporting performances by James Corden as a fellow struggling musician friend of Knightley's, the always great Catherine Keener as Ruffalo's ex-wife, and Hailee Steinfeld as his moody daughter. Overall, "Begin Again" is not an earth shattering film, but it is a genuinely heartfelt story and celebration of music that really sneaks up on you with its earnestness.