Just go with the flow and let life inspires you to create

Rating: 8/10 (9 September 2014)

Begin Again is refreshing, sincere and realistic. I think in certain ways it is even better than Once. Original, authentic and spontaneous. It just flows so naturally and captivating that you are just sucked in and want to experience life with the cast.
Mark Ruffalo is great. He is very good at portraying an overworked underdog. Here he plays the role of Dan, an award-winning record producer going downhill in his career because of his personal problems triggered by his divorce. His ex-wife Miriam (Catherine Keener) is also in the music business. As for Keira Knightley, it is probably her best – natural and not too pretentious as her previous work. Still, she could have toned down a little more in some scenes. In this movie she is Gretta, an amateur sing-song writer comes to New York from England with her boyfriend who signs with a big record company. But as fame and the music industry consume him, she painfully realizes their fundamental differences.
The best part of the film is the theme/story: how people create music to express emotions and share, not necessarily for fame or money, which easily get in the way of pure artistic creation. On another dimension, it also traces the production and distribution channel of the music business which has evolved into mass participation and authenticity (backup singing or street kids, guitar from the daughter and ambiance) with the popularization of digital technology and the internet. Then we, as audience, also have the same access to creation and sharing. It is also a big slash to marketing and packaging which tend to focus on the looks and images and ignoring the core of the music – the emotions it represents. Of course the third layer is how music bring seemingly love/marriages/relationship together and/or tear them apart.
The movie opens with two heart-broken, frustrated and lonely people's encounter through original music. Greta's first song touches on being alone in a city which exactly show how both of them feel at the time. The way she presents herself reflects the rawness but authenticity of her work. So is her advice to Violet (Hailee Steinfeld), Dan's teenage daughter on how to dress to express herself as a real and confident person.
The use of imagination and free flow of ideas flows fluently throughout, I especially like the first scene of the imaginary band and production to go with Greta's song.
The movie is inspiring in the sense that everyone one of us can be an artist and create, as long as we do it from the heart. And do not worry about making money, because it will come along the way as long as we do a good job.
Lots of sincerity and definitely a wakeup call to push us to focus on what is really important in creation and expression, as well as in chasing our dreams and in interacting with our loved ones. Rich and real in music, emotion, relationship, creativity, confidence and go with the flow. Just sit back and enjoy it.