MOVIES
B Y M O L LY T E M P L E T O N
M ARK RUFFALO
AND K EIR A K NIGHTLE Y
piano and drums and
strings lifting the song
into another realm. Dan
introduces himself, and
the resulting conversation
essentially fills the rest of
the film.
In some ways, Begin
Again is a musical
Cinderella story from
another era, and its
unsubtle critique of the
music industry feels
wedged in and already
dated.
But
this
Cinderella
doesn’t
want to be a pop-star
princess, and she
comes with baggage of
Begin Again is a pleasant, musical rehash looking at the art of relationships
her
own:
Her
ex-boyfriend
and
songwriting
partner
(played
by
an
unexpectedly
likable
Adam
Levine)
ohn Carney’s Once (2007) was a lovely, intimate film, the
story of two musicians whose romance played out artistically. has left her for the big time.
Both Dan and Gretta are essentially couch-surfing through rough
Once is now a Broadway powerhouse, made a little tidier but
no less affecting, and Carney is back with a movie that’s patches of varying lengths. Their collaboration, more than their
almost Once again: two drifting, lovelorn souls brought unconsummated attraction, is what matters, and what works magic,
pulling in other musicians, making something new and making it in a
together through musical collaboration.
Begin Again, though, has slightly sharper edges, and its heartbroken new way.
Begin Again is a quiet charmer and not without missteps — a night-
heroine an occasionally tarter tongue. In an opening sequence that
loops back on itself from different perspectives, worn-out, bitter in-New York sequence feels borrowed from some other movie, its
music-biz pro Dan (a bedraggled Mark Ruffalo) gets kicked out of the musical choices and images oddly generic — but it works thanks to
company he co-founded — in front of his sullen daughter (Hailee Carney’s gift for complicated relationships, and his focus on the place
Steinfeld), no less. He makes his sodden, despondent way to a bar at where artistic and emotional connections layer on each other. Everyone
which a very reluctant Gretta (Keira Knightley) has been badgered into in this movie seems to be a little bit in love, and never more so than
playing one of her songs. Dan hears something other than simple when they’re recording on a rooftop in the city, going gorgeously
acoustic guitar and plaintive vocals; he imagines an entire arrangement, against the grain of how things are supposedly supposed to be done. ■
ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING
J
LIFE ITSELF
Bombastic, charismatic and iconic through
and through, Roger Ebert was the Muhammad
Ali of film criticism, a man whose face and
voice became synonymous with our modern
pastime of going to the movies. Life Itself,
despite its flaws, is a fascinating document of
a complicated artist whose work was, by
turns, righteously opinionated, accessibly
populist and always, at bottom, disarmingly
frank and humane. At the core of the film is
Ebert’s relationship with Gene Siskel, the rival
Chicago Tribune critic who became his
sparring partner on At The Movies, the
beloved show that brought both men to
global recognition. Their relationship is the
stuff of deep drama, a clash of titans that
crackles with antagonism, intellectual one-
upmanship, wicked humor and the grudging
love of brothers. (Bijou Metro)
OBVIOUS CHILD
Obvious Child is, as you may have heard, an
abortion comedy. But that’s not exactly true:
It’s not About Abortion, in the afterschool-
special, other-movies-I-shall-not-name way.
It’s about Donna Stern (Jenny Slate), a
twentysomething comedian by night and
bookstore employee by day. Bawdy and
genuine, Donna is a character so messily,
perfectly balanced between vulnerability and
humor that we’re always laughing with her,
not at her; there’s no cruelty in writer-director
Gillian Robespierre’s deft, affecting, intelligent
and honest brand of comedy. Obvious Child is
a quiet movie, in a way; no one needs saving,
and everyone’s going to be OK. But it feels like
a big film all the same. (Bijou Metro)
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