New York I • September 2, 2019
Hearts Beat Loud ❤🎹
Welcome back! I hope you had a great long weekend.
Today, I’m kicking off a new theme and as some of you guessed last week, we’re talking about movies set (and filmed) in New York City 🗽🏙. Here’s day 1.
Since we’re just coming off a holiday weekend, I’m going to keep it light. My first recommendation is one of last year’s overlooked gems that was filmed and set in Brooklyn.
Hearts Beat Loud
STREAMING ON HULU
What it’s about: Frank (Nick Offerman), a former musician who owns a failing record store in Red Hook, and his daughter Sam (Kiersey Clemons), who is preparing to start college in the fall, form an unlikely indie pop band.
Why it’s great: Hearts Beat Loud is an indie pop anthem of a movie — and that’s not just because it takes place in Brooklyn and follows the owner of a record shop. It’s so easy to watch, catchy in a way, and makes you feel high and alive — think “Shuffle” by Bombay Bicycle Club.
And while it gains a lot of mileage on charm, the real reason it works is that Frank and Sam have so much complexity to them. Beneath the surface of the easy narrative are real character struggles and Nick Offerman and Kiersey Clemons play them with deep expressiveness and empathy. So, even when the story becomes predictable, it never becomes dull.
As someone who has attended many a concert in Williamsburg’s Rough Trade, director Brett Haley nails the mood and atmosphere of the Brooklyn indie scene. Also, Toni Collette sings "Bruises” by Chairlift at karaoke — that’s reason enough to watch it.
The key players:
🎬 Brett Haley
🖋 Brett Haley & Marc Basch
🎵 Keegan DeWitt
🎭 Nick Offerman, Kiersey Clemons, Ted Danson, Sasha Lane, Blythe Danner, Toni Collette
The details: ⏳ 97 minutes // 🇺🇸 U.S. // 📺 Trailer
Fun fact: All the songs in the movie were written by Wild Cub frontman Keegan DeWitt and performed and recorded live on set by the actors.
Don’t have Hulu? Hearts Beat Loud is available to buy or rent on Prime Video, iTunes, and Google Play.
In movie news:
🃏 Todd Phillips’ Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix premiered at the Venice Film Festival this weekend to critical acclaim and an eight-minute standing ovation.
My take: Remember, a standing ovation at a premiere at Venice isn’t hard to come by. All a movie has to do is not be actively bad. Don’t look too far into the initial reaction. I expect a more polarized reception when it’s released in October.
🎒Good Boys made $12.5 million this weekend bringing its total domestic box office to $60 million. You can read my review here.
My take: This is great news for the mid-budget comedy, which saw a lull in the mid-2010s. Even better, it’s an original movie. However, it’s frustrating that Booksmart, another R-rated teen comedy distributed by Annapurna, didn’t fare better.
Great to see you again! Let’s do it again some time. Tomorrow?
Thanks for reading,
Karl (@karl_delo)