Hearts Beat Loud

A view into an ordinary family. Nothing happends, absolutely nothing. Follow your neighbours a couple of days instead and you will experience more, no matter who they are. Although it touch me some in the ending.

This is a fluffy, feel-good movie about a midlife-crisis dad and his college-bound daughter who bond while recording three songs together over the summer after her high school graduation. The movie unfortunately wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be in the beginning. About 30 minutes of the running time is taken up with the two of them recording and performing their music, which leaves only about an hour of skimpy drama. The movie's biggest asset is character development, which kept me interested up to a point. But it drags in the middle due to a weak storyline and ends with a thud. None of the various subplots are adequately resolved, and some are completely abandoned. The filmmakers seem to be trying to recreate the charm of independent musical movies like Once. But it doesn't quite work. The acting is good but not great. As dad and daughter, Nick Offerman and Kiersey Clemons are appealing but not charismatic. The songs are catchy but forgettable. Not a bad way to spend an hour and a half though...as long as your expectations aren't too high.

At least, that's what it felt like the movie was about, that we were learning about how songs are written and fleshed out. Seriously, it was a pleasant film, with great MUSICAL performances from Kiersey Clemons and Nick Offerman. They had good acting too, but I feel the story and the directing was not very focused. The whole grandma-has-dementia angle could have been dropped completely. There were missed opportunities for drama, or that 'Oscar moment', like when Sam tells her father Frank that she had just learned to ride a bike and that's why she was late coming home. You'd think there would be a huge emotional outburst based on how biking had changed the family, but nope, it just kind of came and went. The movie has a great musical scene in the shop towards the end, but then kind of fizzles and it tried to find a good way to end. It should have ended sooner. I think in better hands, this movie would have been even better. It just felt like it didn't know what it wanted to be, trying to introduce too many ideas that weren't needed, and the pacing was not consistent. Still worth a watch if you like watching nice musical performances.

I can totally understand why this film was so adored at both Sundance and SXSW film festivals. It's a great family film with a great cast and a great soundtrack. Hearts Beat Loud is about a father (Nick Offerman) and his daughter (Kiersey Clemons) as they spend their last summer together in their charming hipster NYC home town before she embarks on her career path of becoming a doctor at a university on the other side of the country. Frank Fisher (Offerman) owns the vintage record store in town and brings a musical background to the story. The father-daughter duo record a song during one of their weekly jam sessions and Frank sends it out to Spotify where it becomes an indie hit. Sam Fisher (Kiersey Clemons) delicately navigates a new romance with Rose (Sasha Lane) as well as her relationships with both her father and music all while taking summer courses online and preparing for her big move at the end of summer. I was so impressed with Nick Offerman's (Parks and Recreation) performance in this film. He showed real vulnerability in so many scenes and I was captivated by the color of his eyes and how well he portrayed a loving single dad. I really enjoyed the simplicity of how this film was shot. Most of the scenes were only two characters at a time. We see Frank with his daughter Sam together hanging out, having heart to heart conversations, arguing, and making music together. We also see him attempt to maneuver through an undeniably confusing relationship with his "landlady" Leslie played by indie darling Toni Collette. We also enjoy a not so subtle nod to the 80's TV hit show Cheers as Ted Danson is cast as Dave, the local bar owner and Frank's best bud. Sasha Lane (American Honey) lights up the screen as artist and Sam's love interest Rose. I was most enchanted by Kiersey Clemons's performance. She is absolutely beautiful and does such an incredible job portraying Frank's daughter. She effortlessly dances from rolling her eyes at her goofy dad to expressing her love and admiration for him. She sings throughout the film and her voice is so sweet and so soulful that it will give you goosebumps. In the Q&A session after the film, co-star Sasha Lane admitted that she cried every time she heard Kiersey sing. I absolutely loved the music throughout the film and I especially enjoyed Kiersey's performance. With a running time of just 97 minutes, this is a quick watch for any film buff. At times I did feel it was a little slow, however the audience was intended to enjoy the music during these slower and more drawn out scenes. I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoys music and light and easy heartwarming films. Hearts Beat Loud is unquestionably delightful.