I really enjoy movies about music. Specifically, stories that detail the creative process involved in the composition of great songs. I adored last year’s Patti Cake$. The indie drama was merely the most recent example in a long illustrious tradition. I’m talking about pictures like The Commitments (1991), That Thing You Do! (1996), 8 Mile (2002), School of Rock (2003), Music and Lyrics (2007), and Crazy Heart (2009). Special commendation goes to director John Carney. He’s a master. Once (2006), Begin Again (2013) and Sing Street (2016) were all shining examples of the genre. Each one ranked among my favorites in their respective year. I could go on and on. I was primed to love Hearts Beat Loud. While it may not rank up there with the very best, it’s certainly a delightful little film.
Frank is the owner of Red Hook Records in Brooklyn, New York. The store is on the verge of closing up shop for good. He’s a widower whose daughter Sam (Kiersey Clemons) is getting ready to attend school as a pre-med student at UCLA. They’re both musicians. He’s a guitarist. She’s a keyboardist with a mellifluous voice. Mom was a singer too actually. Frank was in a band with his wife but she died in a bike accident when Sam was much younger. Sam actually appears to be the more responsible of the two. She is focused on her studies while her father wants to have fun creating tunes. That he is going to miss his daughter when she goes away to school is emphasized to the nth degree. “We’re not a band!” she exclaims. Frank winkingly uses that declaration as their band’s moniker. Unbeknownst to her, he uploads their musical collaboration to Spotify, the music streaming service. The humor remains light and modest. There’s a really poignant quality in their bond that never resorts to schmaltz. At times the script emphasizes a mildly acerbic quality to their exchanges. In fact, Frank comes across as pretty stoic. Maybe it’s because his facial expressions are hidden behind that massive salt and pepper beard of his. There are also some really nice tunes that are beautifully highlighted throughout. It culminates with an impromptu concert at Frank’s record boutique.
Hearts Beat Loud is appropriately named. This is about love whether it be among family, friends or that special someone. There’s a little bit of all three. The drama is dressed up with interesting personalities. Director Brett Haley’s recent prolific output has made him a darling of the Sundance Film Festival. The director has premiered three features there in the past four years. Haley reunites with Nick Offerman and Blythe Danner who have each acted separately in different movies of his. I’ll See You in My Dreams (2015) featured Blythe Danner as the star. She makes a quirky appearance as Sam’s grandmother here. Offerman played a supporting role in Haley’s The Hero (2017). Other key portrayals include Toni Collette as the really cool landlord of Frank’s music store. It’s always a pleasure to see the actress but I wish she had been given more to do here. Actress Sasha Lane (American Honey) is Rose, Sam’s love interest and Ted Danson appears as — what else? — a bartender.
Hearts Beat Loud is a heartwarming story about a family’s ties to music. What really elevates the dialogue is the chemistry between Nick Offerman as the father and Kiersey Clemmons as his daughter. Frank and Sam write songs together and that development is a delight to watch. As the artistic process comes together we hear the end product. There’s a nice collection of little ditties by composer Keegan DeWitt that captivate the ear. The fast version of the title track is probably my favorite. There’s also a ballad version. “Everything Must Go” and “Blink (One Million Miles)” are memorable as well. While agreeable, this crowd-pleasing account is not going to have any lasting impact on your life. The screenplay by Brett Haley and Marc Basch almost redefines how slight a drama can actually be. All excitement is essentially derived from the sincerity of the performances. Frank seems genuinely impressed by his daughter’s talents. He positively beams with pride. I got a little emotionally choked up with their relationship. Any film that can do that in an efficient 97 minutes gets a stamp of approval from me.
06-24-18
I think it’s pretty clear that the only Jurassic movie that ever NEEDED to be made in this whole blessed series was the very first entry. Allow me to clarify with an explanation that admittedly reeks of arrogance. The whole point was to show the wonder of an emerging technology in which dinosaurs looked like they did indeed exist. We experienced jaw-dropping special effects and lots and lots of reaction shots at which Steven Spielberg is so good at giving us. It was simply the wonder of it all. I won’t pretend out of nostalgia that The Lost World and Jurassic Park III were any better than the schlocky entries they actually were. Nor do I think 2015’s Jurassic World was great art. However, and this is key, it had the best reason to exist since the first. I am an ardent apologist of Jurassic World. I am not alone. That production remains the sixth highest box office hit of all time in the U.S. and the fifth highest worldwide. It was the culmination of everything. For the first time, we got to see the park legitimately open and then, of course, fall apart right before our eyes in cataclysmic tragedy. As frivolously entertaining as 1970s disaster classics like The Towering Inferno or The Poseidon Adventure.
Horror is a genre in which many entries rely so heavily on blood and gore for thrills, that when a story is varnished in a veneer of class and sophistication it appears almost revolutionary. Hereditary opens with a tracking shot of a dollhouse from far away. As the camera pans in closer it centers on a bedroom where the father (Gabriel Byrne) enters bringing a blazer for his sleeping son (Alex Wolff) to wear at his grandmother’s funeral. It’s a bewitching introduction because it conveys so much. Mother Annie (Toni Collette) makes miniatures, small-scale versions of things influenced by her own life. That’s merely one reason why the beginning is so apropos. This production is highlighted by sleek cinematography, atmospheric music, and good performances. One is truly great. I’m talking Oscar nomination. More on that in a moment. But strip away all the stylish flourishes and you’re left with a screenplay that seems like it was cobbled together after a night of watching Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist and the 1976 composite they inspired: The Omen.
As far as this animation fan is concerned, The Incredibles is still the greatest Pixar movie ever made. In fact, I’d even go so far as to say it’s perhaps the greatest superhero movie ever made as well. I mention this because it helps to appreciate my mindset as I entered the theater to watch Incredibles 2. This was 14 years in the making. I had high expectations and I greeted this sequel with breathless anticipation. Did it deliver?
Filmmaker Paul Schrader has long been fascinated with characters hell-bent on a self-destructive path. Time and again whether it be the screenplay for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver or his own directorial works like American Gigolo, Hardcore, or Affliction, difficult themes infect his work. In a nutshell, First Reformed is the chronicle of a religious man’s crisis of faith. Yet the narrative covers a lot more than that as Schrader endeavors to explore religion, spirituality and one’s existence beyond the physical body. Oh yes, there’s a flying sequence over mountains and stars and a whole lot more in one of the few cinematographic moments contained within that does not rely on a static shot. A cinephile, Paul Schrader has long cited the work of the great French director Robert Bresson. Schrader is deeply influenced by his minimalist style, particularly Bresson’s 1951 film Diary of a Country Priest which is clearly a major influence on this production.
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