There is something candid about a film that reflects your own flaws, your own mistakes, and the possibilities missed while you were not looking or not caring, or too busy doing other things. There is something about a story like that which always makes me come back for more. Call it reflective psycho-analysis or pathetic loser syndrome, I don't care, they both pretty much take me down the same road.
The main character in 'Begin Again' starts the film in somewhat those kind of shoes… Dan (Mark Ruffalo - in probably his best role since 'My Life Without Me' (2003)) is by all means a lost man, there is no shade of his amazing abilities, either as a music producer or father, in the opening sequence. He is at his lowest when he asks his underage daughter to pay for his drinks at a bar, in the middle of the day. But is is Ruffalo and his charismatic persona lets us know that this is not the man that really hides behind the overgrown beard or lost eyes. He has just lost his faith, lost it in his passion for the music he loves and the family we soon learn he can no longer call his own.
This story, much like the one from 'Once' (2006) runs along the idea of meeting a person on a whim, the kind of person you forgot was out there. That just happens to be the only one that ever truly gets you, but moreover the one that sets free your daemons and your fears and lets you see the road to realising your dreams. It is a love story in the unconventional way that set 'Once' apart, because it shows love in the raw sense of reality, not in the fast forward way usually pasted in romantic comedies. It does not show you two people falling into bed with each other, but two strangers who take the chance on a moment and help each other heal, realise dreams unfounded and sort the messiness of daily life. Much like in 'Once' both characters have attachments to other people, Dan is dealing with the break-up of his eighteen year marriage, while Greta (Kiera Knightly) finds rather suddenly that her five year relationship has also been compromised and with that all attachments to her musician boyfriend (Adam Levine) and their music partnership. Funny how when you have been riding along side someone else for so long you forget what it was like to be yourself, or what you are capable on your own. Greta is an accomplished and talented songwriter and singer, but she has happily lived in Dave's shadow for so long she says she is only recognised back home for being his girlfriend. It makes me want to cry, because as the audience we see her talent, but she doesn't, she happily plays along in his shadow. When things suddenly end between them, we hope for her beauty to shine, and it does.
Here Dan and Greta become an alliance, they hunt the streets of New York for back stages to her music and create together the basis of their lost dreams.
'I was sitting on a platform ready to kill my self and then I heard your song' (Dan)
I always look for films that make me see my own mortality, if you may. For my dreams always seem to fall somewhat behind me, and a person to lift them would be just peachy. I love Mark Ruffalo normally, but the infectiousness of his passion is clear in this film, much like it was in his affection for Ann (Sarah Polley) in 'My Life Without Me'.
Enjoy
