just watch it!

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The words 'music' and 'quiet' don't normally go together in a sentence, but they are apt adjectives to describe the nice little independent movie, 'Hearts Beat Loud' starring Nick Offerman (of Parks and Recreation fame) and directed by Brett Haley. Offerman portrays widower Frank Fisher, the owner of Red Hook Records, who has reached a point of change in his life. He's tired of owning a lightly visited vintage vinyl record store, conflicted in his feelings as his only child, daughter Sam (an excellent Kiersey Clemons), is preparing to leave Brooklyn for UCLA Med School, and searching for a dream of making it big as a two-man band with his daughter. There are several original songs in the movie (all beautiful with Kiersey showing quite exceptional vocals), and all tell the story of how both Frank and Sam feel about each other, their position in their respective lives, and where the lives are headed. If you have a child, or had a child, or were a child, that is about to embark on their own, independent life, this movie continually gives you undertones of poignancy, longing for times past, and hopefulness for the future. There are no explosions, no superhero's, no villains...just a beautiful, 'quiet' movie that invites you in to this father/daughter life and their struggle(s) just to move on in life.

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.

A man manages to survive for 17 years by owning a vinyl record store in a small town in the NYC area. Previous to this, he had a band, and was a rock star wannabe. As his daughter is about to move across the country to UCLA, he coaxes her into their weekly jam session, records one of her songs, surreptitiously uploads it to a social media platform, and finds it becomes an internet hit.So now his rock star dream revives, as he tries to talk his daughter into deferring UCLA to become a band with him. A factor in his favor is that his daughter would also be leaving her girlfriend in going to UCLA.This was the closing gala at the Inside Out LGBT film festival. The father-daughter relationship dominated, while the lesbian relationship was incidental. So it makes a good gala film, as it is straight-friendly. But I am not convinced - maybe if the father was selling CDs, not vinyl records, he could have lasted until today.

A movie that's not so empty and not so vibrant. Portraits life around us in a much simpler version with lots of tiny its and bits with a boost of feel good music. Loved it