Speaker
John Carney is a fairly recent director, he became well known for his debut film "Once", and with his follow up film Begin Again which featured a high profile cast and was filmed using a bigger budget of $8 million which though small in the grand scheme of Hollywood is a large leap from the 180, 000 euro budget used on once. Regardless of the budget both Carney's films established a similar narrative. This narrative which included music as a unifying bond was then further enforced with Carney's third feature film "Sing Street" Carney himself described Once, Begin Again and Sing Street as a trilogy (10) this itself shows that perhaps Carney is trying to establish himself as an auteur which can be described as a “distinguishable personality of the director” who “Over a group of films, a director must exhibit certain recurrent characteristics of style, which serve as his signature” (Item 15).
Projector
Busking scene in Once 3:37 - 8 :16 (1)
Speaker
The scene opens with a wide shot of Guy busking in the street, the camera gradually tracks forward, towards the end of the song the camera tracks back and girl is the only one watching Guy's performance in the scene Girl. This scene is recreated in a different venue in Carney's second film Begin Again but in terms of the narrative a similar thing happens. All the main characters are introduced in the first scene in both films and in both films one of the main characters is introduced through a musical performance.
Projector
Begin Again - 1:12 - 3:46 (3)
Speaker
In this scene Greta is singing in front of an audience who
clearly are not interested this is similar to Once, as even though Guy is
busking he hasn't attracted any attention apart from Girl and the same is said
for Greta in Begin Again as the only person paying attention at the end of her
performance is Dan. Both films give their audiences the same "by chance"
meeting typical of Carney's films (7) that Carney has executed in Once (1),
Begin Again (2) and Sing Street (3) with the use of music as a uniting force to
propel the characters relationships forward which is an auteur trait as this is a style linked distinctly to the director.
The continuing theme of music has been picked up by
reviewers as it has been stated that Carney is unable to "change his
spots"(11) and has been referred to in other reviews as a "music movie auteur" (12)
Carney stated himself that he once was forced to make the choice between movies
and music and that it was a difficult decision for him, this could tell us why
music is so pivotal in nearly all of his films, and maybe even provide us with
proof that this will be a continuing theme throughout his filmography which
could potentially establish him as an auteur. This could be further supported
by the open ending of "Sing Street" which when asked how it was to
finally have a happy ending when the two protagonists end up together
romantically, Carney deflects saying that's not what he intended the ending to
be, this would make the overall ending similar to Carney's other to films
"Once" and "Begin Again"(5).
Sing Street also opens with a musical element the first thing we see is the main character attempting to write a song, though it isn't a direct introduction to the other protagonist in the film. It still contains one of the typical themes of a film directed by John Carney which is the introduction into the film through music. Arguably Sing Street is the most distant from Carney's other films, with the main characters being considerably younger than the two main characters in the other films. This is also the only film of my three in which the two characters don't bond through making music together, but through one character making music through the other. Yet, in reviews it is made blatant that by watching the film people associate it with John Carney's style just from the use of music one even describes the film as "part of a greater trilogy" (Item 10) along with Once and Begin Again.
Projector
Sing Street - 1:07 - 1:58 (Opening Scene)
Speaker
After seeing all 3 opening sequences, there are blatant similarities in the narrative structure and the themes that you could pick out such as Carney introducing the main character through song for the all three times and the fact they are all playing songs they have written themselves. These themes continue throughout the films, creating a "canon effect" which Carney himself has used a similar phrase to describe the films (10). Other elements of the narrative such as the open ending of the films and the "fantasy" elements which make the characters endeavours seem "slightly preposterous" (9) which can be found in all 3 films mentioned in this project it seems clear that there is definitely some ground to suggest Carney could potentially be an auteur.
The label of an auteur can be subjective to an extent some auteur theory books distinguish an auteur in different ways but main themes that seem to be included to define someone as an auteur are "a distinct sense of visual style, repetition of narrative themes and motifs, and originality "(15). Carney clearly has a repetition of narrative themes which have been demonstrated within this presentation, but whether or not he has a distinct sense of visual style is up for debate. Scenes may look distinct but does recreating a scene in various different venues with different yet similar characters mean you have a distinct sense of style or just trying to recreate film moments that you already know are successful within your audience? This is something that is shown in all three of his films in just the opening, Once starts busking on the street, Begin Again in a bar and Sing Street in a bedroom yet in all three the character is performing one of their own songs.
Projector
Once - 14:19 - 20 32
Speaker
This scene is arguably the most distinct part of Once, as the song went on to win an Oscar and the film went on to be turned into an award winning musical. For many people Once will be a point of reference for John Carney regardless of what he goes on to do within his film career, and Carney is aware of this and has stated that he is "delighted" with this (6). However, it could be argued that Once is a safety net for Carney, one that he relies on to create what he knows is popular, having seen the scene of Falling Slowly a largely pivotal scene within Once, this scene can be heavily compared to similar scenes in both Sing Street and Begin again.
Projector
Sing Street - 37:59 - 40:01
Speaker
The similarities within these scenes emphasise how these films are so similar, their similarities make it so that the line between "distinct sense of visual style" and being repetitive is blurred. Especially when in reviews Carney's films have been compared to so many other films such as "The Commitments" and "Bandslam"(8). The film doesn't exactly follow genre conventions of a typical musical (4) in an interview with Carney the interviewer describes his films as "modern musicals"(13) and he talks about thinking that "film and music were married" and how through making these films he makes more of "what he wants to make" instead of what is 'popular'. In this case it would go against my point that Carney is consciously re creating scenes from his films in order to maintain his loyal audience from "Once".
Whether or not Carney can be classed as an auteur is completely subjective, perhaps a wider filmography is needed before you can label his distinct style. However, I would say it isn't up for debate that the use of music as a unifying bond within the films is what makes Carney stand out from other "modern musicals". It's there in all 3 films and all films seem to do well critically. Carney distinctly describes Sing Street as a 'movie about brother relationships' (14) the thing that makes their relationship so strong is their bond over music. Within Begin Again, music is the catalyst to almost every endeavour the relationship between the two main characters Greta and Dan only exists because of her performance and his position in the music business, and ultimately at the end everything is solved through the release of their album. Once also makes music pivotal, the characters bond through music is essentially what made the film so popular (in my opinion from what I've read).
No comments:
Post a Comment