San Francisco International Film Festival 2014

John Carne’s Once (2006) had everything going for it including newcomers Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová who won our hearts and the Academy Award for best song. Begin Again (2013) finds Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley in a similar making-it-in-music story, not a remake but a variation on a theme. Even the publicity poster looks similar. With professional actors and a bigger budget, why doesn’t it work this time? Unfortunately, the film lacks Once‘s feeling of discovering characters we’d never met before. Not surprisingly, it also fails to repeat Hansard and Inglová’s chemistry. Begin Again is a slight, if occasionally entertaining movie. Continue reading →