Can a Song Save Your Life?

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Movie
German title Can a Song Save Your Life?
Original title Begin again
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2013
length 104 minutes
Age rating FSK 0
Rod
Director John Carney
script John Carney
production Anthony Bregman ,
Tobin Crossbow ,
Judd Apatow
music Gregg Alexander
camera Yaron Orbach
cut Andrew Marcus
occupation

Can a Song Save Your Life? ( German  Can a song save your life?, original title: Begin Again ) is an American romantic-comedic music film by the Irish director and screenwriter John Carney from 2013. The main roles are played by Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo and Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine . The film celebrated its world premiere on September 7, 2013 at the Toronto International Film Festival ; it was released in US theaters on June 27, 2014.

The songs, which help determine the film's content, come from Gregg Alexander , Danielle Brisebois , Nick Lashley, Rick Nowels , Nick Southwood, Glen Hansard and John Carney.

action

The New York music producer Dan Mulligan, recently fired from his former partner Saul, listens to a song by the young amateur singer-songwriter Gretta while drinking in a bar, whose friend Dave Kohl, a recently successful pop musician, cheated on her with a producer . Dan recognizes the depressed musician's potential and persuades her to play the song Saul. When he refuses to produce a demo tape, Dan gets Gretta to record the song alone with him. From this initial idea the plan developed to produce an entire album; each song is recorded live at a different location in the city.

Between the sessions of the band, which consists of Gretta, her best friend Steve, two paid musicians and other volunteers from hip-hop star Troublegum - who once helped Mulligan succeed - Gretta acts as a mediator between Dan and his daughter Violet or his Mrs. Miriam, who live separately from him.

One evening Gretta recorded a song on Dave's mailbox with Steve condemning his behavior. Then Dave gets in touch again. At a meeting, he apologizes for the affair, which he says has come to an end after a short time. At a concert he tries to prove his continued love for Gretta by playing a song written by Gretta during their time together in its original ballad form. Gretta is visibly touched, but she leaves the concert.

Dan presents Gretta's album Saul, who is very interested. Shortly before the signing of the contract, however, Gretta made the decision to offer the album free of any commercialism for the price of one dollar on the Internet. After the first day, the factory has already made ten thousand purchases.

background

Originally Scarlett Johansson provided for the role of Gretta but this got out. Keira Knightley had yet to learn to play the guitar for the film. Her husband, the musician James Righton, supported her in this. Dan's last name, Mulligan, means a second chance to perform a particular move or action in a game of golf. The name is symbolic of Dan's new beginning in the music scene and in his family.

The German theatrical release took place on August 28, 2014.

Three years after its release, the film hit the headlines again after director John Carney criticized Keira Knightley's acting in the film in an interview. Knightley wouldn't be a singer or a guitar player, which the audience would notice. A short time later, Carney apologized to Knightley and justified his verbal outburst with his own perfectionism: “I'm ashamed of myself that I could say such things and I've been trying to account for what they say about me. In trying to pick holes in my own work, I ended up blaming someone else. "

Soundtrack

The soundtrack includes the songs played in the film by Gretta (Keira Knightley) and Dave (Adam Levine), Gregg Alexander's score, as well as some additional tracks. The soundtrack was released on June 30, 2014 on Polydor Records and Interscope Records (US). Lost Stars was nominated for an Oscar for best movie song .

No. title Songwriter Interpreter length
1. Lost Stars Gregg Alexander , Danielle Brisebois , Nick Lashley, Nick Southwood Adam Levine 4:27
2. Tell Me If You Wanna Go Home Gregg Alexander, Nick Lashley Keira Knightley 3:39
3. No One Else Like You Gregg Alexander, Nick Lashley Adam Levine 3:28
4th Horny Gregg Alexander, Rick Nowels Cee-Lo Green 3:38
5. Lost Stars Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois, Nick Lashley, Nick Southwood Keira Knightley 4:00
6th A higher place Gregg Alexander, Rick Nowels Adam Levine 3:12
7th Like a fool John Carney Keira Knightley 2:27
8th. Did It Ever Cross Your Mind (Demo Version) Gregg Alexander Cessyl Orchestra 3:38
9. Women of the World (Go on Strike!) Gregg Alexander, Cee-Lo Green, Rick Nowels Cee-Lo Green 3:15
10. Coming up roses Glen Hansard, Danielle Brisebois Keira Knightley 3:13
11. Into the trance Gregg Alexander Cessyl Orchestra 4:05
12. A Step You Can't Take Back John Carney, Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois Keira Knightley 3:25
13. Lost Stars (Into the Night Mix) Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois, Nick Lashley, Nick Southwood Adam Levine 3:38
14th The Roof is Broke (Demo Mix) Gregg Alexander Cessyl Orchestra 3:00
15th Tell Me If You Wanna Go Home (Roof Top Mix) Gregg Alexander, Nick Lashley Keira Knightley & Hailee Steinfeld 3:27
16. Intimidated by you Gregg Alexander Cessyl Orchestra 2:28

reception

The reviews were mixed, but mostly positive. The film received a critical rating of 83% at rottentomatoes.com and the brand “Certified Fresh”; the audience rating there is 86%.

The IMDb scores 7.8 out of 10 points. At Metacritic, he got a Metascore of 62 and a user score of 7.7 / 10.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for Can a Song Save Your Life? Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , June 2014 (PDF; test number: 145 571 K).
  2. ^ A b John Carney: 'I'll never make a film with supermodels again at independent.co.uk, accessed May 30, 2016
  3. ↑ Alex Stedman: John Carney Apologizes for Slamming Keira Knightley. June 1, 2016. Retrieved June 29, 2016 (American English).