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Begin Again · The Next Reel Film Podcast

• 0:02
  Pete Wright: I'm Pete Wright.
• 0:04
  Andy Nelson: And I'm Andy Nelson.
• 0:05
  Pete Wright: Welcome to the next reel. When the movie ends
• 0:08
  Andy Nelson: Our conversation begins.
• 0:10
  Pete Wright: Begin again is over.
• 0:12
  Musicians, for the most part, are monosyllabic teenagers who really don't have a lot to say. Is safe? Is it safe to say? Or in this movie, there are actors pretending to be musicians who are monosyllabic teenagers who don't really have a lot to say. Alright, Andy.
• 0:31
  Begin again. Number two in the John Carney extravaganza of music movies. Where are you on this movie?
• 0:40
  Andy Nelson: So, you know, I I started this movie and without my wife, and then she came in and wanted to watch it. And I said, would you like me to begin begin again again?
• 0:52
  Pete Wright: And were you were you proud of that moment was in your
• 0:54
  Andy Nelson: very proud of that. I was as proud as I once joke last week.
• 0:58
  Pete Wright: Yes. Keep them coming.
• 0:59
  Andy Nelson: I know. I gotta come up with a good one for Sing Street.
• 1:02
  Pete Wright: I can't wait for vocalizing avenue next I think this movie I this is, again, it's part of my series as a bit of a recap. We're doing the John Carney musical extravaganza. Once, we talked about last week, definitely leans hard on the documentary style, sort of gorilla style filmmaker. We have actual musicians who are learning to act in this movie, and it I think we we both really appreciated what that movie does. It's full of catchy music, great singer songwriter stuff, tight little budget.
• 1:40
  The movie delivers. This one, we have we we move from Dublin to New York City, and we take the actors who were first musicians in the original movie, and we replace them with big name Hollywood people in the form of Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley. And we get this collision of what happens when this raw sort of authenticity or the intention of authenticity meets more professional filmmaking. This was definitely not shot on video cameras. This was shot on Big Reds.
• 2:16
  This was far from the scrappy kind of intimacy that you have with once. This was a polished professional film, and it is a movie where you can feel Carney navigating that tension as he evolves as a filmmaker. And I think it's interesting. I will say, I have more quibbles about this movie than I did once. What do you think about that?
• 2:44
  Andy Nelson: Than once than once upon a time or then once the film.
• 2:47
  Pete Wright: Then is going to be problematic. Let me begin again. Wait. Then once the the movie.
• 2:54
  Andy Nelson: See, he makes it so easy. He makes it so easy.
• 2:57
  Pete Wright: I know.
• 2:58
  Andy Nelson: It's Carney's fault.
• 3:00
  Pete Wright: Oh, Carney. Yeah. So give me give me a sense of where you where you stand on this movie.
• 3:06
  Andy Nelson: I can see Quibbles, but I I I don't know. This is an interesting film because I mean, largely, it's about this music exec who wants to get back to why he wanted to start this business to begin with. You know, he is tired of the music, the crap music that he and his partner are putting out, and he wants to go back to the reason that they started, which was, as you said, kind of that authenticity, finding those those musicians who really had something to say. I appreciate that. I I it's funny because I think over the course of the story, I think there's a journey that we are seeing with Mark Ruffalo's character of trying to figure out what that authenticity is.
• 3:51
  And even at the end of the film, I feel, you know, he still can't shake the businessman angle of of how he operates, you know? Whereas Keira Knightley, I think her character is, you know, she enjoys writing songs and performing periodically, but that's not really what she's after. And so I think because of the way that he crafts these two characters, I I I buy the authenticity mostly. But I think sometimes I feel that there is a a it's it's there's like a hint of that. I I I I don't think it's the budget.
• 4:39
  I don't think the budget is my issue as far as like feeling over polished or anything like that. I don't have an issue with that. I just think that sometimes when stories are trying to talk about, wanting to be authentic and find the find the the the heart of the thing, I think that's a hard thing to write about sometimes and and have actors perform because in some ways, sometimes it just ends up not feeling as authentic, you know? But I think because he cast Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo in the parts, I I think that generally, I think that they actually tap into it most of the time. Like, I think there there's a lot in this film that I really love about just the nature of what they're working to fictionally achieve.
• 5:27
  Pete Wright: Do you believe them both? This is where I struggled. Like, I I I find I believe Ruffalo more because he inhabits the sort of, like, I just got up out of bed, but I'm still wearing a tie kind of a aesthetic. Well, like, I I believe where he is in life. Like but I find that Keira Knightley, whom I adore as an actor, is wholly wrong for this movie.
• 5:56
  And I I don't think I've ever felt this strongly about it until this watch.
• 6:01
  Andy Nelson: Is it the acting and the performance of her, like, just the the acting performance, or is it her singing?
• 6:08
  Pete Wright: I think she's she comes around to the singing. Right? I mean, she gets there. She's not a singer. She didn't sing before this movie.
• 6:15
  Reportedly, Carney wanted to cast somebody like Adele or even Scarlett Johansson in this part before it got to to Keira Knightley. Both obviously, Adele is is quite a singer, and Scarlett Johansson has a background in singing too and has some CDs. I don't particularly care for her music. It's not in my playlist, but she's not a bad singer at all by any stretch. Like, she's really quite good.
• 6:40
  So the fact that we land with Keira Knightley, who is a phenomenal actor and needed to be taught to sing, I think, limits the range of the movie. Like, there's there is no point in this movie where I don't look at her and think this is an actor who had to work really hard to pretend to be a musician. And I didn't feel that way at all in once because they were musicians. And and I sort of feel like this is this is where you see the scenes, where Carney gets more more in terms of resources to be able to make this movie. And part of professionalizing the movie goes in you know, is it lies here in getting the people who can deliver and preference performance rather than musicianship in a movie about music.
• 7:36
  Andy Nelson: It's funny because my watching this with my wife, she said something very similar that she's like, her voice always sounds too small, I think is what And she I can I can see that? And I'm like, well, I feel like there are performers out there who have, you know, those sorts of voices. I'm just wondering if the the music written around her voice is maybe too much for it. Like, there's too much music for a smaller voice, where maybe it should just be like a guitar and voice sort of thing, you know? But I don't know.
• 8:12
  I I I don't know enough about, like, putting together things like that as far as like bands and everything. But I I think from my perspective, I can kind of understand that, but I really liked her singing, you know? And so I guess I struggle with that line a little bit because I'm like, I I liked her singing. I thought she did fine. I guess I can kind of see that point, but it didn't.
• 8:36
  It wasn't something that bugged me, I guess, you know? But I I can see the issue, and I think this is why Carney had some serious frustration making this movie. Think I I don't know if he was pushed into casting Keira Knightley. I don't know how that happened. If they were they were just up against the wall and had to cast somebody.
• 8:57
  But, I mean, he was pretty nasty in some interviews about her about working with her. He's like, I'll never make a film with supermodels again, even though she's not a model. He said, when he was getting ready to do Sing Street, he said or he wanted to do something like Sing Street because, of working with a model on his last film. He kept calling her, and he did later apologize. And she accepted his apology, and she said she wasn't shocked by his comments because they did not get along during filming.
• 9:25
  And I think a lot of this just boils down to exactly this issue. Like, I I just wonder if it it if it came down to the fact that he felt he ended up casting a great performer, a great actor in the part, but somebody who didn't have the voice for it. You know? But I don't know. I can see all that, but I still enjoy her singing.
• 9:46
  I enjoy the songs. I like, I think she plays the part really well. The relationship with Ruffalo, I think, is very authentic. So largely, I find myself quite enjoying a lot of the stuff going on here. But I I definitely can see that issue and why people would struggle with that.
• 10:04
  Pete Wright: Yeah. I end up appreciating more about the movie because I so love the the ideology of these movies. Right? Because this is as as I said last week, like, so much of what I love about once is that music is the is the point. I love music movies, and so I forgive an awful lot of stuff that I might otherwise, you know, be super critical of if I wasn't just a big damn fan of the process of making movies.
• 10:32
  This one on this point, I have another quibble. Are you ready? Oh, okay. I don't even know if I wanna say this one out loud because it seems like I'm such a basic bitch about it. But look.
• 10:46
  The conceit of the movie is that he is going to produce her, and they're gonna use Cielo's money to make a movie to make an album outside in New York and use the texture of New York as the as the album. And they're super proud of this. And every time they play the demo after they make it in that final fifteen minutes, everybody who listens to it is like, this is amazing. You guys made the right decision. We're all very proud of this decision.
• 11:16
  Then you go listen to the soundtrack, and there's no New York in any of those songs. Like, how proud could you possibly be if you scrub the entire conceit of the movie from the soundtrack for a movie about making music outside?
• 11:32
  Andy Nelson: No. I hear you. Well, it's an interesting point because I they didn't record any of it out there. It was all recorded ahead of time, and they were just they were just, you
• 11:42
  Pete Wright: know And and all of the street sounds were recorded isolated and and pumped into the the movie. I wanted to hear the guy scream, I'm calling the police.
• 11:52
  Andy Nelson: Like Yeah. Right. Right.
• 11:53
  Pete Wright: They made a big deal about that stuff.
• 11:55
  Andy Nelson: Well and that's interesting because in the scope of album releases, does that happen often? Like, I know I've heard of artists who said, oh, we found this amazing old barn in a field in Pennsylvania. It had a great sound, and so we recorded our entire album in this barn. Like, I've heard things like that. Sure.
• 12:14
  But, I mean, do can you think of anyone who's actually done albums like this? Or, like, we want the authentic street sounds in the backgrounds of every song, whatever that may be.
• 12:23
  Pete Wright: I can't I can't, right off the dome, think of that. But but that's really not that's beside the point because
• 12:28
  Andy Nelson: No. I'm just well, I'm just wondering if it's a if it's a thing.
• 12:32
  Pete Wright: I don't know if it's a thing. I don't I've never I don't feel like I have an album in my collection that has been so explicit as this movie purports to be. Right? This movie is saying we're gonna do something radically different. And shouldn't we be proud of that point all the way through production?
• 12:50
  Yeah. Even if they're gonna pipe the street sounds in like they do in the movie, I wanted street sounds.
• 12:56
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. Right. Where it sounds like you're hearing those elements as, as another additional piece of the of the layering. Mhmm. I mean, I agree.
• 13:08
  I I think in the scope of things I mean, I I guess I never thought about I don't think I've ever listened to this soundtrack. I've heard that one the song. Lost Stars. Lost Stars, I've heard. But I don't think that any of this is something that I've ever tapped into beyond just when I watched the movie.
• 13:27
  And so I guess I hadn't really thought about the soundtrack to that extent, but that's interesting that they didn't, which is more of a fault of the soundtrack than the film, though.
• 13:38
  Pete Wright: Yeah. I I think so. This is another one where it feels like the movie is showing, it seems, where we have a movie that's ideologically about capturing music in a certain way and then so obviously not actually capturing music that way. It gets all lip synced and and, you know, performed over over tape in all of these locations. When I look at it that way, it becomes a more disingenuous postcard of New York, like going through Central Park and the Bethesda Steps and Washington Square and the the Wall Street subway station, like all of these iconic locations.
• 14:19
  In a way that made Dublin feel super discovered in once, this movie felt like we have money, so we're gonna clear the streets, and we're gonna get proper permits and do stuff just because we can. And didn't stop to ask whether or not they should. Aping another movie.
• 14:36
  Andy Nelson: I I mean, I disagree about once. I don't feel like I got any sense of Dublin out of that movie other than that one street that they sell stuff on.
• 14:45
  Pete Wright: Well and and that's what I mean. I felt felt like Dublin felt like home to these people. Right? I don't feel like New York feels like home. It feels like a a a I'm on a a bus going to famous locations.
• 14:58
  Andy Nelson: Oh, I don't know if I felt that. I mean, I I maybe more so with Keira Knightley, but that's just because she isn't from there. She's visiting long term. But I mean, I felt very lived in with everything going on in Ruffalo's side of the story. You know?
• 15:12
  I like, he felt very much a piece of the city, and I just felt like that element of it worked quite well. Like his story, I think if we kind of separate the two stories, I think his works really well for me is this struggling relationship with his wife that they're still married. He's just not living there because of this whole breakdown that he had after, she had this affair and was gonna leave him and then didn't and everything. And it's is is still trying to, you know, work on his relationship with his daughter, dealing with alcoholism, wanting to kind of like completely upend his business. And I think Ruffalo is great for that.
• 15:54
  And I think Catherine Keener is a perfect Holy cow. Katherine Keener. They're just always great together. I'm convinced that Katherine Keener has it in her contracts that her hair always has to look like this in every movie she does because she always looks this way.
• 16:08
  Pete Wright: And yet and for someone who has so little screen time, does she not feel like the most human person in every movie that she's ever in? I feel like Oh, I know.
• 16:16
  Andy Nelson: She's just
• 16:17
  Pete Wright: She's incredibly lived in. God, Katherine Keener. God damn you, Katherine Keener. You're brilliant.
• 16:24
  Andy Nelson: She's great. And Hailee Steinfeld, I loved as their daughter. I thought she
• 16:27
  Pete Wright: was 15 years old in this movie.
• 16:28
  Andy Nelson: Do you please have? Fantastic. Yeah. I can because I think it was the year before this, she had just done True Grit. True Grit, which was I think her first film.
• 16:35
  So
• 16:36
  Pete Wright: Yeah. She's amazing.
• 16:37
  Andy Nelson: I think she's great. And I think and we know she's a musician now.
• 16:43
  Pete Wright: Yeah. I think she learned she learned the I think she learned the guitar for this, and I think she learned better than better than Keira Knightley. Yeah. Playing electric is different,
• 16:54
  Andy Nelson: for sure. It's it's and she's only strumming a few notes. So she's not quite as not quite as complex. But I still thought, she did a great job throughout all of that. I enjoyed that family.
• 17:06
  Like, the dynamic of this family, I think, plays really well. And then the kind of the surrogate friend slash mother figure she ends up seeing in Greta, Cure Knightley's character, as they go shopping and she gives her tips on the boy and everything. Like, I loved all of that. I think it plays really nicely. And then his the way that his struggles come out, I think.
• 17:29
  Like, this is where I think John Carney excels in crafting these stories of human struggles and dealing with his feelings about his relationship. The fact that he walks out of that coffee shop when he and Gret are talking and she brings it up and seems kind of pushy. And and then just like that whole conversation afterward and opening up, like, think all of that plays so nicely and felt so realistic with these two characters. I I just loved that whole side of the story.
• 17:57
  Pete Wright: Very very authentic. I I think the the Yasin Bey sequences so Yasin Bey plays this plays his former partner, really, partner in name only at this point, of this record label. Ruffalo's character has made some is is struggling. He's professionally struggling to find a new artist to sign that have the same energy that he once did, the same potential. The record label has outpaced him.
• 18:27
  It's continued to grow and do other things. I think the Yasimbe character appropriately represents the superficiality of the music industry, the business of the music industry, and that's at the heart of the conflict in in this movie is, you know, the authenticity versus the business. And what do you have to sacrifice in order to in in order to get signed, in order to make any money? The the entire conversation at the at the end, the sort of business climax of the movie where she says, why are you keeping 9 of my dollars when we're not gonna make CDs? We're just gonna put this thing online.
• 19:06
  Why do you why do you do that? And when the business guy next to her says, well, I mean, it's a buck a book. You get a buck a book. That's or a buck a CD. It's just like books.
• 19:15
  It's a buck a book. And that just made me so mad institutionally watching that conversation that I really loved the turn when they sit down on the couch together and release the album for a buck. That just felt like a good dopamine hit vindication of that entire storyline. I'm very, very satisfied with it. It did exactly what it needed to do.
• 19:38
  That was great. We haven't talked about the I can't believe that I've let it go this long. My very favorite sequence, which is the the initial interpretation or the the mixing in Mark Ruffalo's head of that first song, a step was it a step you can't take back? And this is all a part of the nonlinearity of the first part of the movie where we get to live through Keira Knightley's experience on on and leading up to this open mic night. She sings this song, and from her perspective, it's not it doesn't go great.
• 20:21
  Nobody seems very interested in it. Then we switch stories, and we switch over to Ruffalo, and we see his backstory leading to what brought him to this open mic night. And he gets to hear her sing, And we get to see what he hears in his head as she starts to play and the instruments on stage around her become phantom band members and start to play themselves. This is why I watch this movie again and again for this three minute sequence. It is my favorite thing in this movie.
• 20:54
  Andy Nelson: It's a fantastic visualization of, you know, somebody who has this skill of being able to kind of hear the accompaniment to a song and to just kind of hear what else could enhance it and help it out. And I loved how it plays. It's it's very magical the way that, you know, the drumsticks kind of float up into the air and start playing and the keys on the piano start moving and Cello. The the cello and the violin and everything. It's really it's very cool.
• 21:22
  I like it quite a bit. I agree.
• 21:24
  Pete Wright: I also love that I mean, you you said it. His skill, his superpower is seeing the potential in others' music. Right? That's his gift. He's not himself a musician.
• 21:34
  He is, in many ways, I think Ruffalo is the avatar for John Carney. And I think you get the feel in the construction of this movie that Carney sees that too. Right? Because Carney was a bass player for the frames in the early nineties. Ruffalo on the rooftop gets the reminder, hey.
• 21:53
  You I heard you used to be a bass player. Maybe you should pick up the bass right now, wink wink. And so Ruffalo's character picks up the bass and plays a little bit. And being able to unveil this superpower in that pub while we're dancing around the more complicated issue of this character's high functioning alcoholism, I think, is a is a really interesting sort of set of conflicts that we experience very early to set the stage for the rest of the movie. Structurally, I really like it.
• 22:31
  That dual narrative in the first twenty, thirty minutes is is something that people, I think, criticize to me unfairly. I think it I think it works very well.
• 22:40
  Andy Nelson: Just to that point, it is an interesting structure the way that we follow her, meet him, back up, follow him. We go home with her. She starts watching videos, back up, watch through the the lens of those videos, her entire relationship with Adam Levine, and kind of get that story, and then we kind of catch up. So there is a lot of jumping around, but I I never was that an issue for me. I think that the way that the story is constructed, I think, plays fine.
• 23:10
  So but, yeah. I it's I I love that setup. And I think, is it something that we should have seen again? Or is it just fine that one time? I I think it's fine the one time, but but at least you're getting a sense as to, like, what how he visions things.
• 23:25
  You know?
• 23:26
  Pete Wright: Yeah. I think it would have been overdone had we gotten to see it again. You know what I mean? Like, it's a really special little nugget in this movie. It's the exact same, and I think probably about the same point in the movie as in once when Hansard and and, Marika are in the piano store where we have the unveiling of what it's like to work together and make a song and invent harmonies for the first time.
• 23:52
  And I think that realizing what music can be is central to these movies, and these scenes are the the principal scenes that allow us to do that. Yeah. And that was Marquetta. Marquetta. Marquetta.
• 24:07
  Thank you.
• 24:08
  Andy Nelson: Alright. We're gonna take a quick break, and we'll be right back. I wanna talk a little bit about Greta, Keira Knightley's character, because I think that it's an interesting element to this story that we have. And paired with Adam Levine, who's at the start of the film, their boyfriend, girlfriend, he's written or she writes, has written songs. He's performed some songs of hers.
• 24:35
  He's just starred in a movie that clearly is a musical movie and sings on the soundtrack. And, you know, I think in the scope of things, I think Rob Morrow is perhaps the a step beyond where Yasin Bay is. Yes. For sure. That whole thing.
• 24:52
  So she you know, and and he's as as Mark Ruffalo defines Adam Levine's character, Dave Cole, he wants the fame. He wants this. And so the way that that relationship plays is a very interesting one. She come only comes here because he has has come here to record some stuff, and he ends up going off to LA, gets inspired, comes back, writes some song or has written some songs, comes back and plays one for for Greta. And as she listens, then she slaps him.
• 25:25
  And I this that is one of my favorite moments of the movie because as a songwriter, listening to his lyrics of this song that he just was inspired to write was a confession that, you know, I have fallen in love with someone else. I mean, I someone inspired me to write this song. It I think that is such a a clever way to play that that scene and their and the subsequent kind of breakup because it just it it reads as just smart understanding of of him. She understands him, what his capabilities are. This song seemed like something that he wouldn't have been able to put together without having that inspiration.
• 26:09
  Pete Wright: Yeah. I totally agree with you. And I think the this punctuates this scene punctuates why you do cast Keira Knightley in this role because you just watch her face over the course of this thing. As her right eye appears to water faster than her left, I don't know. But you can tell she's on the verge of tears as she's watching this.
• 26:30
  And that onslaught of emotion is principal to her talent as an actor. Right? Like, she is so good at conveying the subtleties of this transformation. Levine is simultaneously in this movie kind of the most natural of performers and a a bit, you know, the most problematic because he's playing himself. He has almost no dramatic range.
• 27:02
  Like, he can play slightly abashed successful musician and somewhat more abashed successful musician, and that is kind of it. Like, that's that's where he's at. But this scene is really good for an abashed successful musician. Right? Somebody who actually feels that sense of emotional self loathing at the same time as he's willing to let his ego say, I'm gonna see this through.
• 27:30
  Right? I don't know what's gonna happen. It might end tomorrow, but our relationship as it has ever been is over because I'm with Mim for now. Who knows what happens next? I find him truly believable in this sequence.
• 27:47
  Everything else, it feels like I'm watching Adam Levine, and that's fine because I'm a fan of Maroon five. I'm a fan of Adam Levine, and his live performance at the end of this movie is fantastic. It makes me love the song.
• 28:02
  Andy Nelson: I think you're being a little hard on him. I think that he plays well, but I and I think the reason that he plays well is because John Carney's already proven to us that he can cast musicians and and get them to deliver scenes. And I think Adam Levine, he's not giving Adam anything that he couldn't do. Right? He's not having him pull a Forrest Gump or anything like that.
• 28:24
  It's a pretty straightforward performance, and I think it I think it plays well. I I like I I like what Adam is doing here. And I I also like his performance at the end. And it's you know, going back to why you cast Keira Knightley, that final concert scene is another reason. As, you know, he's up there and he says, I'm gonna play it the way that she wrote it.
• 28:46
  And he starts playing it and it's really good. And she's she's listening from the from the doorway, and he doesn't know that she's there. And and the way that that plays is so beautiful as she sees that he's capturing the essence of it. But then there's that moment where he just can't not do it his way. And he kicks in and, you know, it really kind of becomes that maroon five voice of his that's just so so amazing.
• 29:14
  But that's that's breaking what she thought the song needed to be. And she sees how popular it is and everything, but it's like it's not it's not theirs anymore, as she said. And and he he crossed the line and just like watching her face as she's just like, no, you couldn't do it. You just couldn't play it that way and leaves. I mean, it's awesome.
• 29:36
  I agree with everything you just said.
• 29:38
  Pete Wright: And what was going on in my head at that time was Dave, Adam, on stage is motioning for her to come up and play with him. Yeah. And there's a guitar on stage for her, an acoustic guitar sitting right there, and he's playing the song. Do you think that there is something to this idea that had she gone up on stage, she could have and would have maintained the aesthetic of the song as she intended it. And that in fact, it was the fact that she left that or that she refused to come on stage that that was a sign that their relationship is is over, and there's no rehabilitation, and the song is lovely, and Adam's moving forward in a new direction.
• 30:28
  Committed.
• 30:28
  Andy Nelson: And he's gonna do whatever he wants now. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think there's some of that, but I I don't know if he was thinking that deeply about it. I think that, I mean, he sees this the fans, all the women jumping up and down in the audience, singing singing along.
• 30:42
  I think he's just into it, and he just does what he does. And takes it his way. He he takes it his way.
• 30:49
  Pete Wright: Yeah. James Gordon. He's a delightful fellow, James Gordon.
• 30:56
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. I like James Gordon. I I try to remember, like, what films I first saw him in. Like, Into the Woods was after this. Was he in many was
• 31:06
  Pete Wright: he mostly just staged before this? I honestly think I this was the first film that I saw him at. I think that's true.
• 31:15
  Andy Nelson: Well, he I he had been in film since '97, so we missed a lot. Yeah. I just I
• 31:21
  Pete Wright: I and I know he did a bunch of stuff in in The UK that I was not aware of.
• 31:26
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. Just lots of lots of things too. So a very busy person. But I I always associated him with the stage, which is where he
• 31:35
  Pete Wright: He was, I think, on stage while he was making this movie.
• 31:38
  Andy Nelson: Right. Like, he had to he shot during the day and then went to perform at night. So very very busy. I like James Corden. I always think he's fun.
• 31:46
  Pete Wright: Which is weird because it feels like everything that he's doing in this movie was almost everything was at night.
• 31:51
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. I was wondering about that.
• 31:52
  Pete Wright: I guess during the
• 31:52
  Andy Nelson: day Yeah.
• 31:53
  Pete Wright: There was a lot of the outdoor band recording that he was in.
• 31:57
  Andy Nelson: That's what? Mondays, they don't have there are the dark days for theater?
• 32:01
  Pete Wright: Oh, is that that's
• 32:02
  Andy Nelson: Is it? I don't know.
• 32:03
  Pete Wright: Is that I don't know. Is that true?
• 32:05
  Andy Nelson: Well, figured you do.
• 32:09
  Pete Wright: I don't know, man. I don't know.
• 32:11
  Andy Nelson: There's a dark day. Right? They don't perform seven days a week.
• 32:14
  Pete Wright: So he gets he gets his nights on Monday nights. Yeah. I I really liked him. He's he does what he needs to do as the affable buddy with the crappy apartment, and I like their reunion, Keira Knightley and and James Corden. I think Corden has a great voice.
• 32:30
  I like watching him busk even when he's singing really, you know, exaggerated songs. I have a good time with him. I find him he he's enormously charismatic. So I I don't think you can lose with Gordon as the buddy.
• 32:45
  Andy Nelson: I thought he was great as the buddy. I had a harder time watching him busk, like, than Glenn Hanford in the previous film. Like, he just seemed like an actor busking.
• 32:58
  Pete Wright: Yeah. Hanford embodies it as an identity. That's for sure. That's
• 33:02
  Andy Nelson: true. Exactly.
• 33:03
  Pete Wright: I think I I really stand by my comment. I enjoyed watching James Corden busk. Full stop. Yeah.
• 33:11
  Andy Nelson: Yeah.
• 33:11
  Pete Wright: Okay. And last person that I wanted to mention was Cielo.
• 33:15
  Andy Nelson: Oh, yes. Well, I I'm assuming this was the period of time that he and Adam were on whatever the show that was that he was on.
• 33:23
  Pete Wright: Was it The Voice?
• 33:24
  Andy Nelson: The Voice. Yes. Is this
• 33:26
  Pete Wright: The Voice era? Andy, I've never watched an episode of The Voice. I've seen a
• 33:30
  Andy Nelson: few kidding me? You seem like such a voice guy.
• 33:33
  Pete Wright: I've I was a I'm not an America's Got Talent guy or a voice guy. I've never done it.
• 33:39
  Andy Nelson: I I watched that for years. It started in 2011, so a few years before this. So he and Adam were co hosts of it at that in those first few seasons. And so I think he was I think CeeLo was a host on it until his the Me Too killed his career. You know, I can't remember exactly what happened, but I know that suddenly he's just no longer someone you talk about.
• 34:04
  Pete Wright: Oh, should we not talk about him right now? Hey. You started it. Was he in this movie? I don't I don't even remember him in this movie.
• 34:10
  I think Cee Lo is playing exactly the part that you need to play, but what I really wanna wanna use Cee Lo as a launch pad for is another potential I don't know. It's a thing I was thinking about. Is it a quibble? I don't know. But if we go to so the function of CeeLo's character in the movie is to offer a launchpad for recording this album because it was CeeLo's career as, what, troublemaker?
• 34:35
  I think I can't remember. Was was that what he
• 34:37
  Andy Nelson: Trouble trouble gum.
• 34:39
  Pete Wright: Weird name. Trouble Yeah. No. Trouble gum. It's like bubble gum trouble gum.
• 34:43
  Yeah. He was produced by Dan, by Ruffalo's character. And Trouble Gum says, you know, all of this, all these cars are thanks to that guy, and I'm never gonna forget that. And there's a a really, I think, a lovely little thoughtful, you know, scene in Cielo's enormous driveway where he talks through the connection that he has with Ruffalo's character, and I like that a lot. It is a sign that Ruffalo's down on his luck vibe is of Ruffalo's making.
• 35:14
  Right? He is clearly dealing with stuff inside himself that is not necessarily structural to the industry to me because he's a guy who still has connections who will step up for him when he needs them, connections with a lot of money, who will obviously help him figure out what his next step is. That means that Ruffalo's path is being of his own making is is marred by his drinking. It's marred by his internal state. It's marred by all kinds of things, but it's not the fact that Yasim Bey asked him to clean out his locker.
• 35:52
  Right? Yasim Bey did that because Ruffalo's torpedoing his own career. And the same goes for Keira Knightley, who I never get the feeling wanted what Ruffalo was proposing for her. Right? She was never a desperate musician.
• 36:10
  She was never out to seek the kind of fame that Adam Levine came to New York to find. And I wonder if that whole foundation is one of the things that causes me to look askance at this movie, that there's that on their side, not on the Adam Levine side, but on their side of the story, particularly Keira Knightley's character, there's no real aspiration. She openly says, I make music for my cats. And they have very good taste, but that's all I care about. Would it have been better if they go to Cee Lo and say, look.
• 36:48
  She's she's dynamic, a dynamite songwriter, and she wants it badly.
• 36:53
  Andy Nelson: I don't know if we need it. That's a it's a tricky point because even after the meeting toward the end of the film with, with his partner, Saul, she's just like, oh, it's so great to just not care about the what's gonna happen because you always win, you know? And and that whole thing where that's why she kind of pushes back so much about the $9 versus the $1 with every album. I I think that conversation plays very authentically. You've already talked about that.
• 37:24
  Like, the the struggle artists have with how much money that these producers take. I don't know. Do we need her to be more motivated? I don't know. Because I I don't think it's her story so much as his story.
• 37:38
  Pete Wright: I agree with that.
• 37:39
  Andy Nelson: You know? And and his his journey, I think, is complete by finding her and helping her. And even at the end, I think he realizes I don't know. I I I definitely wanna talk about the the the ending as a separate topic. But I I think the way that she decides, I just wanna release it for a dollar.
• 38:01
  A dollar an album, and then Trouble Gum releases, tells all of his friends on Twitter about it, and suddenly, the first day, they make $10,000. Like, it's very exciting to see. And I think what it showed him, Ruffalo's character, who we've seen his character, he's grown. He's changed. He's improved himself.
• 38:19
  He's back together working on his relationship again with with Catherine Keener. Like, we see that he's actually trying to fix himself. He doesn't he refuses the alcohol when offered at the wrap party. And here, it's like he's pushing her to, like, let's meet with with Saul and and get your album out there. And like, he he's wanting it to be what he thinks.
• 38:39
  Pete Wright: To push her back into the machine.
• 38:41
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. Back her into the machine. And I think her refusal of that is him kind of in a way, she's teaching him what it means to be authentic. And I that final moment, I think, is is critical for his the closure of his full journey there.
• 38:58
  Pete Wright: Headcanon. Does she make another album?
• 39:00
  Andy Nelson: Oh, I don't know. I I I doubt it, but what I would imagine is as a songwriter, I think, you know, a lot of people probably end up coming to her for to write their songs.
• 39:12
  Pete Wright: Oh, I like that. I like your headcanon.
• 39:15
  Andy Nelson: And I think eventually, if she does release something, she's gonna release her version of Lost Stars. Yeah.
• 39:22
  Pete Wright: I will say, on the soundtrack to the movie, you get three versions of Lost Stars. Right? You get the Adam Levine nice version, the Adam Levine rock version, and you get the Keira Knightley version. Duh. So if you want to just mainline Lost Stars, you have a way to do it.
• 39:39
  Andy Nelson: Yes. You do. Yes. You do.
• 39:40
  Pete Wright: You'll never wanna hear it again.
• 39:44
  Andy Nelson: So oh, anyway, I wanna talk about the the way the film ends because my wife and I were chatting about this a little bit after it ended because we have her going to Dave Cole's concert, hearing Lost Stars. He can't help it. He turns it into his rock song. She cries. She leaves.
• 40:03
  She's walking down the street. She's smiling. We're also intercutting back and forth with, like, Mark Ruffalo and Catherine Keener sitting on a park bench, sharing music again. Like, all of everyone's happy, you know, basically. It ends on a shot of her face.
• 40:17
  She's smiling. It's a close-up. She's kind of like connecting with things. Then it goes black. Credits start to roll.
• 40:24
  And then this whole last section of the film plays over the credits. The whole thing with her wanting to release it for a dollar, All of that, all the way up through him talking to Saul back at the office about this whole thing. Did that need to be during the credits? Does it change the context because it's during the credits as opposed to, like, the end of the film? Like, how where does that land for you?
• 40:55
  Pete Wright: It's a really good question, and I struggled with it. I like it as a sort of coda epilogue. It's it's certainly better than a post credit scene for this movie. Right? You can imagine how horrible that would be because it does it changes the nature of the film.
• 41:14
  Right? That ending. It changes your ability to interpret the film. Interestingly, it makes the the film's sort of critique of the music industry a little bit dated because I think streaming these online downloads have transformed the landscape for acquisition of music far more radically than begin again ever imagined.
• 41:36
  Andy Nelson: And had before this movie also.
• 41:38
  Pete Wright: Yeah. Right. Well and and Greta's sort of try this triumphant kind of epilogue of self release reads as just sort of naive given how little artists earn from streaming. I think Ruffalo's comment of how about $2 Yeah. Is still vastly under underselling the value of the music.
• 42:02
  I I think the film has such optimism for digital distribution and and artist independence and all of that, and doesn't didn't anticipate the impact of new technologies and how they would create exploitation mechanics in the business. From the film's perspective, from the character's perspective, I love that we have that show of independence in this credits sequence, but it feels super, super dated. This all it almost this feels like a period piece that we can't relate to as authentically today because it does not demonstrate the the, you know, accurate mechanic of of the music business the way the way it it tried to do.
• 42:52
  Andy Nelson: None of that crossed my mind. But I guess I guess my my my issue was it seems like the the actual end of the movie is is the resolution of the album. And while her resolution with her relationship with Dave is important, and it gives a great end to the film itself of, you know, just kind of like, she's smiling, she's done with this relationship, and she's moving on. I think it goes back to I feel like it's a critical part of the story, and it boils down to and this is, I think, one thing with with Don Carney that we're we're seeing as he's evolving as a storyteller in these sorts of of stories is figuring out, like, who's his protagonist? And I I feel like there's a little confusion in this film on his part as to is this is this Greta's story or is this Dan's story?
• 43:46
  Like, who's really the the the protagonist of the story? And I feel like it's Dan's story. I mean, we start with Greta. We meet Greta, you know, first. But but Dan is the one who's got all these issues and and becomes the one who who gets the story going because he is introduced to Greta and now wants to produce an album with her, has these issues, and through all of this ends up becoming healing, essentially, through the course of the story.
• 44:16
  And by chopping it off with Greta, I don't think we're getting the full Dan story. And I feel like the reason that the rest of the story feels so satisfying, at least in my money, is because that's that's the final piece of the puzzle we needed for Dan's journey to have that moment of seeing this new model of the music industry potentially work that actually is more, in some way, provides more authenticity for the artists themselves. That's interesting.
• 44:47
  Pete Wright: I I think you're well, I don't read read too much into it, but I think one of the I I think you could make a a critique of the film that that the narrative really privileges Dan and his redemption story in that way vastly over Greta's journey as an artist. It's interesting that you that that you call out that we meet Greta first. Our first intimate time with her is on stage as she is performing, and yet the rest of the movie is vastly Dan centered, male centered. Right? This is that's a that that could be a a pretty significant kind of feminist film critique that the movie purports to be about Greta because we start with her, and it ends up being about Dan's redemption.
• 45:35
  And maybe unfairly to Greta's story. It mostly, I just felt like like Carney liked Dan more.
• 45:45
  Andy Nelson: Well, he certainly liked Mark Ruffalo more than than Kieran Eggly. Like, we we already discussed that. And that could have been part of the reason that he maybe latched on to that, more. But, and it's it's always tricky in these relationship stories where you have your your two main characters are there's they're kind of developing a relationship in some capacity because then it's a dance between like, well, whose story is it? Who am I really focusing on here?
• 46:15
  Like in once, I guess I'd say it's the guy's story more than the girl's, you know, but and maybe that's just Carney as a male who Filmmaker. Yeah. Is easier for him to kind of tell the story from the male's point of view. Who knows? But You know,
• 46:31
  Pete Wright: there's an interesting another interesting tie in. The the once gives us an opportunity to have a very short conversation about potentiality of hookup. Right? I'm not coming over because it would just be hanky panky. Okay.
• 46:44
  I'll come over. Oh, then she doesn't come over. This movie, there is, I I think, sexual tension at some point, maybe romantic tension, and they don't hook up again. And I wonder what if we're you know, what what what is the tension there in the narrative that both requires these movies to have the potential of that energy between these characters and yet have it be consistently unrequited?
• 47:15
  Andy Nelson: I I mean, it's definitely there in this film. And we have that final moment between, Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo after they've finished the album, and they are outside, and they're saying their goodbyes and everything. And and you definitely feel that. And he's, I think, conflicted with the idea of I mean, the reason that this whole issue with his relationship started is because his wife had met somebody else and had an affair, was gonna leave him, and only didn't because the guy chickened out as we find out. And so there so he's still trying to figure out how to rebuild this relationship.
• 47:53
  And I think for him, in his in his mind's eye, it's like, it's it's my turn. It's totally fair for me to do this. You know? I I think there's a little bit of that that we get from him as he's as he's hanging out with with, Greta at this particular point in the film and especially because I think there's something about when you're working on a project like this together and everybody becomes really close and you become like, you know, you're creatively intimate and everything just feels so so personal to to have that natural draw to somebody. And I think I think that at this particular point in the film, they're both feeling it.
• 48:37
  But I think I I don't know. I I had a sense that she was the one who's just like, she kind of puts her hand on his chest and says, okay. I got a time to go and leaves. And I I I think that it plays in that way where they're acknowledging that that moment was there, but that it's not something that can happen. Much like in Once, and again, both of these people had other people in their lives they were still trying to sort things out with.
• 49:04
  She ends up leaving Dave, and he ends up back with with his wife. But I think that that moment is there. And I I think it's important for them to just acknowledge and like I love the way that like, this is something I really appreciate with Carney is how he taps into those moments and makes me feel the the the tension and acknowledging it as they decide to make smarter decisions.
• 49:30
  Pete Wright: Yeah. Yeah. I do too. I think that is a a consistent thread through all of these movies is Carney's ability to do just that and to do it consistently in a way that we buy. And I I I do love it.
• 49:47
  It it it's interesting to think back even as the movie has a critique on the music industry and its its impact on relationships. It does make me think about movies like Inside Lou and Davis, right, where the Coens end up choosing a vastly bleaker commentary on the music industry or a star is born, where we have the same kind of relationship. We have the the artist, and we have substance abuse and inner turmoil and, again, much, much more bleak than this movie. This movie, as interesting as his commentary is, I guess maybe this further supports the fact that it's a bit dated, that it's it is a moment in time where everybody can be making movie making music through this grand transition of the business and still be happy about it at the end.
• 50:37
  Andy Nelson: Yes. I agree with all of that. I don't know if I it it doesn't strike me as dated. It just feels of its era. But, you know, I I think that
• 50:47
  Pete Wright: I think I'm saying that by in in that's what I mean. What you said. I what what you said is what I wanted to say. Yeah.
• 50:52
  Andy Nelson: Okay. Okay. Yeah. Dated makes it sound like, oh, this doesn't play anymore.
• 50:56
  Pete Wright: No. It is of its era. That's better.
• 50:58
  Andy Nelson: But that's not what you're saying. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 51:01
  And I if and, I mean, I will say, if anything, it might feel a little past its era. Like, I feel like the way that the as we just said, like the streaming story might have made more sense had this come out like, you know, three or four years earlier as opposed to 2014. So Yeah. But
• 51:20
  Pete Wright: Yeah. It's interesting.
• 51:22
  Andy Nelson: But I still I I I don't know. I I love stories about artists and, like, their passionate journeys to to do something and and move forward and figure themselves out. So, I mean, in the end, I still really connect with this film. I really do enjoy it. Yeah.
• 51:37
  Pete Wright: If you were to flick chart this movie against once, where would it be?
• 51:44
  Andy Nelson: I think above it. Okay. Good.
• 51:48
  Pete Wright: We're gonna come we'll come back to that next week. Okay. Alright. I'm very excited about that.
• 51:53
  Andy Nelson: Alright. Well, is that it or should we move forward?
• 51:55
  Pete Wright: That's what I got. That's what I got.
• 51:57
  Andy Nelson: Well, we'll be right back, but first, our credits.
• 52:12
  Pete Wright: The next reel is a production of True Story FM, Engineering by Andy Nelson, music by Demetriks Wonderland, Russo and Weinberg, Oriole Novella, and Eli Cat lin. Andy usually finds all the stats for the awards and numbers at d-numbers.com, boxofficemojo.com, imdb.com, and wikipedia.org. Find the show at truestory.fm. And if your podcast app allows ratings and reviews, please consider doing that for our show. Sequels and remakes, Broadway adaptations.
• 52:51
  What do we have?
• 52:52
  Andy Nelson: You're not far off. There is a stage adaptation that, has not been performed yet. It's in the works, and it is going to premiere at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California, fall twenty twenty six. So this, I'm assuming, is relatively new news, being directed by Lauren Lottaro and choreographed by David Newman, two prominent theater names. So
• 53:17
  Pete Wright: I would be very excited to see what they do with the Phantom Instruments scene. Yeah. That could be really fun.
• 53:23
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. Right. Right.
• 53:25
  Pete Wright: Yeah. Alright. How did it at awards season?
• 53:28
  Andy Nelson: This film had five wins with 18 other nominations, primarily, song, a lot of song nominations. At the Oscars, Lost Stars was nominated for best song, but lost to glory from Selma. I will just like to call out, as I do when this category comes up for this particular year, everything is awesome from The Lego Movie, also lost, which is my my greatest sadness.
• 53:51
  Pete Wright: Keep carrying that torch, man.
• 53:53
  Andy Nelson: That's right. At the Greetings' Choice Award, lost song lost lost stars, lost best song to glory from Selma again. At the Irish Film and Television Awards, best director for film, Carney lost to Lenny Abrahamson for Frank. I think you're a big fan of Frank. Right?
• 54:08
  Big fan of Frank. Yeah. And at the Guild of Music Supervisors Awards, it was nominated for best music supervision for film budgeted under $10,000,000, and it won.
• 54:18
  Pete Wright: Well, look at that. Yeah. Alright. Under $10,000,000, but just barely had it to do at the box office. What did you get from opening the Weinstein vault?
• 54:35
  Andy Nelson: Wow. That just went a totally different direction. Yeah. It is clear that Carney is writing on the success of his indie film based on the budget here. For this film, he had a budget of $8,000,000, which is more than 53 times what he had for once.
• 54:51
  That's 10,700,000.0 in today's dollars. After premiering at TIFF in 2013 under the title, can a song save your life? The movie opened 06/27/2014 opposite Transformers Age of Extinction, Tammy, Deliver Us From Evil, and Earth to Echo. It opened on a 175 screens, definitely bigger than how it once started, and that would increase to 1,302 after a few weeks. It would only crack into the top 10 once in its third week, but otherwise, it did well enough coasting along.
• 55:18
  In the end, the movie went on to earn 16,700,000.0 domestically and 68,900,000.0 internationally for a total gross of a 113,700,000.0 in today's dollars. That lands the film with an adjusted profit per finished minute of 990,000. All in all, great job, but with a bigger budget, it still couldn't hit the profit ratio that once did. And I will say, just as a side note, I as I was doing some further research, I did notice that when it premiered at TIFF, it created a bidding war, and the Weinstein company ended up winning the bid. One of the promises that they said is 20,000,000 in prints and advertising.
• 55:55
  So I didn't figure that into the budget here. So that's another 20,000,000 they spent. At least 20,000,000, I believe, is what the the deal said. So just assuming it's 20,000,000, it still ended up making its money back. But it obviously that decreased the profit ratio even more.
• 56:12
  Pete Wright: Interesting. Can I give you my quick armchair recast of Keira Knightley and just see what you say? Just gut response. If we were to replace Keira Knightley
• 56:22
  Andy Nelson: In 2014, like that era?
• 56:26
  Pete Wright: Yeah. I I mean, I think you could I think this this is an actor who was definitely doing things at this at this point. Okay. I'm gonna say it, and you just I just wanna watch your face. Jesse Buckley.
• 56:42
  I know she did a musical movie. What was that movie she did? Yeah. She did Wild Rose. Yeah.
• 56:48
  Yeah. But she did that after this. I mean, that was like 2018.
• 56:52
  Andy Nelson: Right. Right. Right. Mean, Jesse Buckley is fine. She's, you know, I I go go back and forth back and forth on Jesse Buckley, you know.
• 57:02
  Pete Wright: My god. If I had a white glove right now, I would dash you across the cheek.
• 57:07
  Andy Nelson: And I've never heard her sing. I didn't see Wild Rose, so I can't speak to her in the scope of voice.
• 57:13
  Pete Wright: I think Jesse Buckley is a national treasure, just not of our nation. She's Irish. She's she's got music in her. She's I think she's great. And, man, I'd hope for a more enthusiastic response on that.
• 57:30
  Andy Nelson: Yeah. You should have known my feelings about her before you asked that question.
• 57:34
  Pete Wright: I should have. God. Man, what a miss.
• 57:38
  Andy Nelson: Alright. Alright. Well, that's it for today's conversation. Next week, we are looking at Carney's final film in this unofficial trilogy, Sing Street. This is a big one in your in your catalog.
• 57:48
  Right?
• 57:48
  Pete Wright: This is the last one. I'm very excited about it. But before we dig in to that next week, we have to rate this week. And we do that on letterboxd. Letterboxd.com slash the next reel.
• 57:57
  That's where we apply our stars and also our hearts. And, we're gonna start with you, Andy. What are you gonna do for this movie?
• 58:06
  Andy Nelson: You know, when I first watched this, I gave it four and a half. I I think it's down to four at this point. Four stars in our heart.
• 58:13
  Pete Wright: Four stars in our heart.
• 58:15
  Andy Nelson: I still really like it, but I don't didn't love it quite as much as I did that first watch.
• 58:18
  Pete Wright: Okay. Okay. Okay. I see, this is the these are the perils of Pete. No.
• 58:26
  Half stars right. I think it was a four for me. Once was also a four for me. Would it have would it fall to a three? I don't think so.
• 58:39
  I think I'm gonna be the optimistic one against my rating. I think I'm gonna go with a four year too. That puts a lot of pressure on my memory of Sync Street, though.
• 58:48
  Andy Nelson: I just wanna say, no lost stars with this movie, Pete?
• 58:53
  Pete Wright: There's one lost star. That was good, Andy. That was good.
• 58:59
  Andy Nelson: Alright. That averages out to four stars and a heart, which you can find on our account at Letterbox at the next reel. You can find me there at Soda Creek Film, and you can find Pete there at Pete Wright. So what do you think about Begin Again? We would love to hear your thoughts.
• 59:14
  Hop into the Show Talk channel over in our Discord community where we will be talking about
• 59:17
  Pete Wright: the movie this week. When the movie ends
• 59:20
  Andy Nelson: Our conversation begins. Letterboxed get it, Andrew. As letterboxed always doeth.
• 59:40
  Pete Wright: Alright. Well, how did you discern your review this week?
• 59:45
  Andy Nelson: I sorted by review activity and landed on three and a
• 59:47
  Pete Wright: half. Okay. What do you got?
• 59:51
  Andy Nelson: Three and a half by Fleabag, who says, I always forget Keira Knightley exists outside of the eighteen hundreds.
• 1:00:01
  Pete Wright: That's true. Maybe that's one of the problems I have with Keira Knightley. She's so good in the eighteen hundreds.
• 1:00:07
  Andy Nelson: Right. I can't remember if that came up when we talked about laggies, but that is something with Keira Knightley where it's like, she does like, there are those certain performers who is just like, I I don't I can't have a picture you in her, like, present day story. That's really funny. Kate Winslow was like that for me for a long time. I'm like, Kate Winslow, like, I think when she did, you know, eternal sunshine,
• 1:00:30
  Pete Wright: I was just like, oh, it's weird to see her. Who is that woman?
• 1:00:32
  Andy Nelson: Present day. Nobody knew. Right.
• 1:00:36
  Pete Wright: I've got a three star from Lindsay who says, I wish it had cut out the entire damn Levine romance subplot and just give me ninety minutes of Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo being cute music friends making an album together. I I just share that one because the phrase cute music friends is one that I'd like to have tattooed on my forearm.
• 1:00:59
  Andy Nelson: You should do that with all your your singing buddies. You should all get that, like the like, all of the the the fellowship of the ring. You should all have cute music friends tattooed on your arms together.
• 1:01:10
  Pete Wright: Do you know what? I'm gonna send you a picture because one of us did that and has a tattoo that has it's like a what was the guy who did the it was like the stick figure art, but big bold strokes and bright colors. Goring? Is
• 1:01:28
  Andy Nelson: it no. Is it don't mean it.
• 1:01:31
  Pete Wright: You know what I mean? He had one of those built or or tattooed on his arm, and inside the shape, there is a photo of the seven of us that was taken years ago, and he had it recreated in that style. So all of our heads are kind of relatively loose. Keith Herring. It's a Herring style, and it is the coolest thing I've ever seen.
• 1:01:51
  And if you look at it, it's a little representation of all of us, and he had it done after the the member of first of us died last month, and it it was such a lovely tribute. I'm not kidding. All of us are thinking about how we're going to get a tattoo as a result of that. The same one. I am I'm at a loss.
• 1:02:09
  Not the same one, but just representing the seven of us.
• 1:02:12
  Andy Nelson: Well, I think it should say cue music friends. I think you already answered that question.
• 1:02:15
  Pete Wright: God, you're right. Maybe that's the one for me. CMFs. Q Music Friends. Thanks, Letterboxd.