Clichés avoided

Rating: 8/10 (20 January 2015)

I am a big fan of movies in which the writer and/or director do not make the easy/clichéd choice. I can now add Begin Again to that club.
The plot is simple even if little optimistic. Gretta (Keira Knightley) moves to NYC with her long-time boyfriend (and song-writing partner) when the boyfriend is signed to a big label. Of course, the romance does not survive the newly-found fame (ok, that was a clichéd choice but I can live with that). Gretta now has to find her own way, without her partner (romantic and song-writing). Her discovery by a down-and-out music label exec (Mark Ruffalo) (ok, another cliché) allows her to grow and to get her own chance to sign to a record label. But Gretta makes the unexpected choices regarding romance, recording, and her future (hence the membership to the non-cliché club). OK, you can see some of these choices coming but may not actually expect the characters to go through with them. Kudos also for not allowing the close-knit relationship between the two leads to develop into romance. Platonic relationships do exist and the film recognizes that.
Good dialog, good use of NYC for making ambient song recordings, and good acting all- around (including a credible job by Adam Levine of Maroon 5 as the jilting boyfriend). A special treat also for fans of the world of struggling musicians.
This makes me want to add director John Carney's prior work, Once, to my queue of movies to be seen.