Movie Review - Begin Again

Begin Again is a drama film with a little bit of comedy and music on the side that is written and directed by Irish TV/Movie writer and director John Canney. He is the same person who wrote and directed the award-winning indie film Once, in 2007. Begin Again was released on June 27, 2014 and has a running time of 104 minutes.

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Begin Again stars Keira Knightley as Gretta James, an aspiring young and talented singer and songwriter who is the girlfriend of soon-to-be-famous rock and roll star Dave Kohl; Mark Ruffalo as Dan Mulligan, a music label executive producer struggling to get back to his old job; Catherine Keener as Miriam Hart, Dan's estranged wife; Hailee Steinfeld as Violet Mulligan, Dan and Miriam's young daughter and a budding guitarist; Adam Levine as Dave Kohl, the ex-boyfriend of Gretta and a rising musician; James Corden as Steve, Gretta's best friend who is also aspiring to be a musician; Yasiin Bey as Saul, Dan's long-time business partner; and CeeLo Green as Troublegum, a successful rapper who was discovered by Dan.

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Gretta accompanies Dave Kolh, her boyfriend, to New York City where he is to begin recording his new album under a famous record company. After weeks in the Big City, Dave now caught up with his new-found fame and stardom, announces to Gretta that he has a new person of interest and they sadly split up. While Gretta was singing in a bar one night, her voice caught the attention of Dan who was just recently been fired from his job. Captivated by her talent and good singing voice, Dan persuades Gretta that he will produce an album featuring her songs. Unable to find a recording studio to back up their plans, they agreed to just record their songs in the streets of New York. They begin by recruiting a team of musicians to help them in their musical collaboration.

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I was really captivated by this film, not only because I enjoyed watching Keira Knightley in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, not because I like Mark Ruffalo turn into the green man as The Incredible Hulk or just because I am a fan of Adam Levine and Maroon Five, it is because it is a really good film. The soundtrack of the movie Lost Stars, is simply charming. Keira Knightley as well as Adam Levine sung different versions of Lost Stars and they were both magnificent. I didn't know Keira can sing. Man I was wrong! The song Lost Stars was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 87th Academy Awards.

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Watch Keira Knightley sing "Like a Fool" from the movie Begin Again. In the movie, Gretta sings this particular song and dedicate it to Dave. She expresses her sad feelings about their broken relationship and sings and records it using her cellphone and sending it directly to Dave's voice mail. The way she does this is heart-warming and at the same time humorous in a way. The Soundtrack of this movie holds the number 1 position in my playlist.