Hearts Beat Loud

I managed to catch this at a screening at the Edinburgh Film Festival. It was one of those bookings I took a risk on and knew very little about it apart from the fact Nick Offerman was the lead. Firstly this is a family focused feel good movie with a musical theme. If that doesn't sound like your thing then its not for you. We have Nick Offerman looking like an angry old owl who is a widower and has a musically talented daughter, Sam played by Kiersey Clemons. Sam is preparing to leave for medical school and her father is featuring less in her life as a result. The father and daughter make music together for fun, hence the musical content of the movie. Sam has also just started a same sex relationship with an artist, so we have a three way love tug of war centring on whether the daughter will leave her new love and father behind, just when the family band have a possibility of commercial success. That is all you need to know without giving any spoilers. What I did find interesting and authentic was the fact that they paid a fair bit of attention to the music making process, which as someone who is interested in this kind of thing is a bonus. We see them use MIDI keyboards, effects pedals on guitars and what also must be the first time Abelton Live and Push have been featured in a movie. Which is interesting in itself as the style of music played is not really the electronic kinds you would associate with Laptop driven music. The weaknesses I found in the story were funnily enough around the use of the internet, the main character is savvy enough to record and supposedly master (we never see this process) then upload his music to Spotify, but hasn't cottoned on to the fact he could be selling his music stock online as well? The music featured in the movie is basically Eno-esque indy pop by the family band with a bunch of other guitary indy type fodder. How much the music means to you will be down to your own tastes but music does feature heavily especially towards the finale. However as a feel good movie it definitely hits the mark and at no point during the movie did I feel a cringe or feel the story was becoming too sentimental, which is usually the case with these types of movies. This is an easy to watch movie and a rare exploration of the father daughter dynamic within a mixed race family over a shared love of music.

When you watch a movie and it is just calm and beautiful with good acting and a simple storyline it is the best medicine.No massive plot or clever dialogue just a nice human story

The quintessential indie movie for music lovers! This movie doesn't abide by a particular storyline and flows just as seamlessly as good music does. The music essentially acts as an aureole for the movie, silently yet gracefully elevating it. Additionally the music is brought to life by the dulcet voices of the leads.

Nick Offerman once again does an exceptional job as the mellow, supporting dad. The troubles of his character are very well sketched and his stance on issues is easy to understand. Offerman, with his rock-hard face carries each scene with a melody. His daughter, played by Kiersey Clemons gives a hell of a performance as well.

The movie essentially conveys the beauty of music and how influential it can be in our everyday lives. It shows how for some people music is literally the way of life. With its powerful lyrics we see the deep meaning that songs bear. In this motion picture the effect of music manifests itself in the act of strengthening the bond between the father and daughter.

Throughout the movie there is no sense of a bigger picture, or purpose and that is where the beauty lies. It is strikingly similar to real life with a lot of small talk that makes the characters more relatable. This is a very well-constructed movie with wonderful music bound to captivate audiences of all ages. And for those who have never been touched by music get ready for your heart to beat loud to the rhythm of the film

Frank Fisher runs an honest-to-goodness record store in relatively modern day Brooklyn, and it's about to go under. He's worried, mostly because his daughter Sam is about to go to UCLA for med school, and helping her pay for that is a top priority. He also has a mother with dementia who keeps wandering off and getting arrested. How will all this be resolved?

Well, this movie is really not all that interested in these things. Frank (Nick Offerman) also PLAYS music, and was once in a band with Sam's (Kiersey Clemons) mother. A mother killed a lot of years ago in a cycling accident. Sam also plays some music, and although she's very studious and very into being a doctor, she still indulges her father with occasional "jam sessions." One night, she brings a song she's started writing to one of these sessions. This results in the song "Hearts Beat Loud" to be recorded and Frank uploads it to Spotify, where is makes a modest splash. He's excited about forming a real band with his daughter and seeing what they can make of a musical partnership. She's interested in being a doctor and in spending time with her new girlfriend Rose (Sasha Lane). THIS conflict is the real meat of the story, and even that is truly overcome by the music.

Clemons and Offerman (who knew!) actually perform in this film, and the music they "create" (the songs were written by others) and play together is what makes the movie a charmer. First of all, Offerman is totally convincing as a slightly grump guy who loves music and loves his daughter, and when he gets to combine the two, his sheer delight is transporting. Offerman practically glows, and having enjoyed his flat, grumpy persona for so many years, seeing him expand on that is a joy. This movie is his show, really. Clemons is refreshingly unaffected in her performance, and it's great to see a father/daughter relationship that shows the pair fighting (at times) but not once feeling that the underlying love and commitment is at risk. But while Clemons is quite charming, in my opinion as a middle aged white male, Offerman's performance is the revelation. Others will feel differently...but I think either way would make the film fun. Just watching these two play together and create songs together is really quite lovely. The rest of the "drama" of the film is quite secondary, although the plot points DO need be resolved, and some are resolved more convincingly than others.

The stuff with Offerman's mom (Blythe Danner) really barely registers, except that we see it as yet another pressure on HIM. His relationship with his land lady (Toni Collette, always a welcome presence) waffles between romance and friendship, and will sweet, is not gripping. Offerman does have some nice scenes with his local bartender (Ted Danson...who enlivens almost every effort he's in these days). On the other side, Sam's relationship with Rose isn't terribly gripping either. They are facing the idea that Sam's move to the other coast will doom their relationship, but we have virtually no emotional investment in them as a couple.

SO, in the end, the joys of this movie are simple and light. Watching two charming performers enjoying playing music together and enjoying the TIME spent making music together. It's a delightful and heartening father/daughter relationship. I suppose if there are any revelations beyond "music can be transporting" would be the notion that "fathers and daughters can love each other with ease, despite any dramas that arise." It's nice to see played out and makes the whole film seem cozy. And I really, really enjoyed this lived-in performance from Offerman.

The "plot" and the resolutions of the various conflicts are secondary and never feel terribly important. Some are resolved in a satisfactory way and others are virtually forgotten. It matters because it makes this movie feel somewhat incomplete as a story. But I still recommend going on this journey with these two characters.

Music and film have always had a tender chemistry, and independent cinema has-as of the last decade at least-also had a strong interest in examining relationships through music (think "Once" and some of the films it inspired). In "Hearts Beat Loud," filmmaker Brett Haley widens that focus from romantic relationships to interfamily ones, in this case between a father and daughter.

The film's greatest strength is its depiction of the song creation process. Not the nuts and bolts, but the vulnerability of creation and sharing, and its precisely that act of emotional exposure that allows Frank (Nick Offerman) and Sam (Kiersey Clemons) to connect despite their inability to speak their emotions directly. The film feels most alive in its musical moments thanks to strong editing, and Haley and his co-writer Marc Basch succeed most at showing how music creation provides them each their own needed release as well as a shared catharsis.

Story-wise, Haley and Basch keep it simple. Sam is a majorly smart kid taking pre-med classes her summer before attending Stanford. Paying her tuition is a big piece of why single dad Frank is going to close his Red Hook-based record store. After Frank nudges her to jam with him, he posts their track to Spotify and it gets attention-much to Frank's delight and Sam's chagrin. Meanwhile, Sam's found her first love (Sasha Lane) and Frank is trying to figure out what's next, with some nudging from his landlady (Toni Collette).

All this to say, the conflict in the movie is mostly interpersonal. It's a lot of moments of connection and discovery (mostly through music). Not much happens in the way of surprises. Instead, Haley steers well wide of melodrama, creating a low-key, contemplative vibe. Consequently, the music scenes, featuring interesting, layered alternative pop music by Keegan DeWitt, feel like the movie's action sequences. All the music is also performed on set, and that kind of authenticity proves critical in a film this intimate.

Whether it's Offerman preforming a song that's not as musically tight or the authentic breaks in Clemons' voice in which you can tell she's belting out the words as best she can, most films don't expose themselves or their performers musically in this way, but there aren't the same expectations of performance that you have with a movie-musical. We also get sequences that play like music videos, such as when Frank picks up the guitar out of pure need to make music, which is cut with Sam taking a big risk for the first time. It's a beautiful weaving together of two different responses to the same emotional stimulus, reminding us that music is about something deeper.

"Hearts Beat Loud" will give viewers more of a mellow musical buzz than a rush of music-driven emotion, but in the movie musical's typical tightrope walk between authenticity and clichéd whimsy, so often filmmakers fall to the larger-than-life side, and "Hearts Beat Loud" is a nice counterbalance.

~Steven C

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