John Carney’s “Begin Again” was first screened for audiences under the title “Can A Song Save Your Life?” An interesting question, to be sure, but perhaps not the right one … or at least not the one preoccupying most viewers. Their biggest question is (or ought to be), can these songs save this movie?
The answer is, well, not exactly. “Begin Again” flaunts some pleasant ditties, including a few from Maroon 5’s Adam Levine (great for boosting soundtrack sales) and several from the surprisingly smooth pipes of Keira Kinghtley. But they are rather breezy and generic tunes, not quite the game-changing classics Carney and his film make them out to be.
While I’m not a music critic (and do not intend to masquerade as one), I do feel that I can comment on how the tracks are incorporated into the film with relative authority. And in “Begin Again,” the songs play out rather like music videos, with the one exception of Knightley’s strikingly beautiful opening number about isolation in the Big Apple. Furthermore, they never reveal anything about the characters participating in their creation (see the Coen Brothers’ “Inside Llewyn Davis” for a masterclass).
These songs reflect the larger issue with “Begin Again,” which is that it provides a surface-level treatment of just about everything it touches. Carney occasionally proffers a profound musing on music, both its art and its commerce, but never really explores them fully.
Marshall and the Movies 
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