Review of Hearts Beat Loud (2018) by Mark Jay K — 09 Dec 2018

Indie dramedy, catchy music, Nick Offerman. I was never going to hate this movie. But there's a special kind of joy that comes from watching a small story told well. A former music star turned record store owner and his medical school-bound daughter write a song together during the pre-college Summer that garners a small amount of success, which is enough for the dad to try and get his daughter to postpone college for a year to see where their success could go.

It doesn't end up as a number 1 song, the band doesn't go stratospheric and nobody dies. Instead, it tells a nice, small story, it benefits from great performances, and the central relationship feels real and warm and develops naturally.

And with some films that is all you need to have a wonderful time watching a film. I didn't feel like the burgeoning relationship that the daughter gets into was given enough time or attention, but on the plus side it was with a girl and that lesbianity was not treated like anything more than heterosexuality would have been.

And if gay relationships can be treated as underwritten afterthoughts as much as straight ones, the road to acceptance is a step further along.