Imagine this: you’re walking down the cereal aisle at the supermarket. You’re on autopilot, just getting stuff done. Then you hear the opening notes of a song you haven’t heard in a while. It’s not that loud; there are people everywhere, and yet you stop what you’re doing. Maybe you pretend to be reading the nutritional facts in the back of box. And then you’re no longer at the store. You’re not even the same age.
You’re way back in a moment of your life when you thought you could do anything in your life or you were hitting rock bottom, not knowing how you’ll fix it. You might be standing next to the person you thought you’d be with for the rest of your life or the one that never was. Music has a way of framing our life. It connects us to people, places, and feelings. It makes us believe things are possible. It stays by our side during the good times and the sad.
So isn’t it appropriate that some of the coolest movies about people coming together or being torn apart are centered on music? Here are five films that feature characters with two loves: music and the one they write music for.
Greetings From Tim Buckley, 2013
Based on the days leading up to Jeff Buckley’s 1991 performance at his father’s tribute concert, this film features a brief love story between the singer-songwriter (Penn Badgley) and one of the show’s staff members (Imogen Poots). However, the biggest connection two people find in the movie is between Jeff and his estranged father, Tim. We see pieces of both their lives as the main character comes to terms with the father he barely knew and the legacy that is expected of him.
Sing Street, 2016
We’ve all had that teenage crush we wanted to impress with a song. This film, set in 1985 Dublin, tells the story of Connor who meets Raphina, a girl dreaming of leaving Ireland to become a model. As a way of impressing her and escaping troubles at home, Connor starts a band and uses songwriting as a way out of his realities. The relationship between the protagonist and his older brother Brendan is a connection we’ve all had one way or another. Whether it’s a sibling, parent, or neighbor, you never forget the person who introduced you to music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_YqJ_aimkM
Song One, 2014
There are people who are only passing through in our lives, and that’s okay. In this film, Franny (Anne Hathaway) comes home from her field study abroad to be by her brother’s side after an accident puts him in a coma. Not knowing how to deal with the problem or help, she uses her anthropological knowledge and tries to record city sounds so that her musician sibling will wake up. It’s during this journey that she meets her brother’s favorite artist. For a few days Franny and James scour through New York collecting audio memories. These adventures end up being not just for Henry but also for Franny to connect with the people she’d left.
Tumbledown, 2015
How do you move on when everything reminds you of the one you lost? What if you’re not sure you even want to leave the state of melancholy and stop thinking that person will be back? As Hannah (Rebecca Hall) tries to continue with her life after the passing of her husband, a famous singer-songwriter, she finds herself surrounded by all the things that brought them together. Her days are stuck trying to capture the essence of the famed musician by writing his memoirs. Then one day Andrew (Jason Sudeikis) comes to town claiming he has the rights to the biography. As fan and wife collide piecing together the life and works of the artist, dark memories and assumptions threaten to destroy them from the inside out.
London Town, 2016
Sometimes we feel so connected to a song, a band, an artist that we almost feel they’re with us during important moments in our life. In the case of this movie the main character, Shay, actually strikes up a friendship with his idol Joe Strummer (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). Set in England in 1979, as punk music was resurfacing as the working class’s vocalization of the political discontent, it features a boy from outside of London who uses music as his way to release his anger and confusion. As the protagonist and the lead singer of The Clash bump in to each other at different times, it’s almost the same feeling as when you put your headphones on after the worst day of your life, and hope that your favorite artist will take you away from all your troubles.
We all remember that song that was playing in the background the day you told someone you loved them, or the one you played in your car when you chose to leave it all behind. The soundtrack of our lives is infinite. It collects our memories and brings them back when we need them the most or when we least expect it.
