Movie Review: "Hearts Beat Loud"

"Hearts Beat Loud": B+.  It's fathers like Frank Fisher who make the rest of us inferior dads look bad.  Thankfully he is only a fictional character in writer-director Brett Haley's newest film, Hearts Beat Loud.  For starters, Frank is cool, a mantle which I used to assume for myself until Momma Cuandito and I had teenagers to raise.  Not only was  Frank a guitarist in a long-haired rock band in his younger days, but he still plays proficiently.  For seventeen years he has operated  a (mostly) vinyl record shop in the trendy Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, a way for him to keep connected to the '80's and '90's music he loves.  As a single parent of eighteen year old Samantha, he has done quite well.  Samantha recently finished high school with grades high enough to gain admission to UCLA's pre-med program.  She has a beautiful singing voice and is a talented keyboard player with a knack for setting some of her poetry to music, an endeavor encouraged with gusto by Frank.

Most importantly, there is a father-daughter bond which seems almost too good to be true.  Frank is a pretty good listener, and as a result Sam has actual conversations with him.  Most dads would not pull their reluctant child away from her studies for the purpose of participating in their daily "jam sesh."  Frank has even set up a mini-recording studio in their apartment. When Frank talks Samantha into demonstrating for him a new song she's written, he decides what they really need to bring it to the next level is an electronic sampler, which he immediately purchases in time for the next day's sesh.  There's not much Frank wouldn't do for his only child.  When she breaks her midnight curfew and doesn't come home until 2:30 a.m., does he chew her out?  No way.  He barely raises an eyebrow when she uses that moment to come out of the closet.  "Next time call, or at least text, if you're going to be late," is the only scolding he can muster.

Nick Offerman is a perfect fit as the teddy bear father.  Kiersey Nicole Clemons is a twenty-four year old actress who has no problem filling the role of Sam.  Although the father-daughter connection, together with the music they make, is the central force propelling the story, there are enough side bars, populated with three well known actors and one newcomer, to bridge the gaps.  Two of those diversions are the complicated respective love interests of Frank and Sam.  Frank isn't actually dating Leslie (the versatile Toni Collette); they are more like good friends.  But she also happens to be his landlord, and the record shop has a serious cash flow problem.  Sam's romantic connection is with Rose (Sasha Lane).  Unlike Sam, who plans to spend the next four years -- and maybe the rest of her life -- in L.A., Rose's future is less glamorous, destined to remain in Red Hook.  The most heart-tugging line of the film is rendered by Rose in the final act.

Frank's sounding board is Dave, the barkeep at the neighborhood saloon where Frank spends many an evening.  In a bit of brilliant casting, Ted Danson plays the wise, advice-giving Dave.  Unlike Danson's character in Cheers, the reformed alcoholic Sam Malone who swore off drinking, Dave is more than willing to share a bump with his good friend Frank.  Dave's ambition is to return to Woodstock so he can smoke dope and relive his experience at the famous 1969 concert.

Blythe Danner (or as I like to call her, Chris Martin's former mother-in law) has a minor part as Frank's mother, Marianne, who is reaching the point where her days of independent living are numbered.  This adds another level of concern for Frank as the revenue from his shop is not paying the bills. Her scenes with granddaughter Sam provide more warmth to an already sweet story.

When Frank and Sam create a song which Frank judges to be a potential hit, he submits it to Spotify without Sam's knowledge, identifying the artist as "We're Not A Band."  It turns out Frank's prediction proves accurate, so now what?  There may be endless possibilities, but most of us know how it will shake out.  Nevertheless, it's hard not to like this movie.  I'm even willing to give it a B+ notwithstanding the grammatical error in its title.