“That's what a good song can do, right? Has the ability to mean many different things to many different people.”
- Rick/Power Ballad
I went to see Power Ballad this past weekend. It's Irish writer/director John Carney's latest movie offering. If you are a music lover, Carney is a kindred spirit. Each of his five films are in some way an homage to music and the power it has in our lives. They're love letters from Carney to those of us who can't imagine a life without music.
In this one, Paul Rudd plays Rick, an American expat living in Ireland. When he as in his 20s he and his band were touring the Emerald Isle trying to build a following. He met an Irish girl, married her and they had a daughter. Needing economic stability for his new family, he waved goodbye to his career as a rocker and settled into domestic life. As part of his income, he works with four other mates in a wedding band. Not quite the rock glory he envisioned, but it helps pay the bills.
Nick Jonas plays Danny Wilson. He's a twenty-seven year old American who is on the backside of the relative fame he had achieved as a teen in a boy-band. His career has flatlined. He's one step away from “eating bugs on Survivor" his agent tells him.
Rick's band plays a wedding in the Dublin area one evening. Danny Wilson, a friend of the bride and groom's, has flown over to attend. As happenstance would have it, Rick and Danny meet and end up jamming late into the night in Danny's room. They trade songs they've written and pitch lyric ideas to each other. One song in particular seems to have something special. That's where the story really begins. You'll have to see it for yourself.
One thing that's always astounded me about Carney's films is the original music that drives the stories along. I don't know who is writing them but as the Irish would say, “They're grand.”
And now, I rank all five of his baby's:
5. Flora and Son
4. Begin Again
3. Power Ballad
2. Once
1. Sing Street