''Hearts Beat Loud'' is a 2018 American
comedy-drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
film directed by
Brett Haley
Brett Haley (born ) is an American filmmaker and actor best known for his work on '' The Hero'' and ''Hearts Beat Loud''.
Early life
Haley was born in Illinois and raised in Key West, Florida and Pensacola, Florida. Haley developed an inter ...
, from a screenplay by Haley and Marc Basch. It stars
Nick Offerman
Nicholas David Offerman (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor, writer, comedian, producer, and carpenter. He is best known for his role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom ''Parks and Recreation'', for which he received the Television Critics A ...
,
Kiersey Clemons
Kiersey Nicole Clemons (born December 17, 1993) is an American actress. She is known for her role in the 2015 comedy-drama film '' Dope'', playing Cassandra "Diggy" Andrews. Subsequently, she went on to co-star in '' Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising ...
,
Ted Danson
Edward Bridge "Ted" Danson III (born December 29, 1947) is an American actor. He achieved stardom playing the lead character Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'', for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. He ...
,
Sasha Lane
Sasha Bianca Lane (born September 29, 1995) is an American actress. She made her film debut in ''American Honey'' (2016), directed by Andrea Arnold, before portraying Hunter C-20 in the first season of the Disney+ television series ''Loki'', set ...
,
Blythe Danner and
Toni Collette
Toni Collette Galafassi (born Toni Collett; 1 November 1972) is an Australian actress, producer, singer, and songwriter. Known for her work in television and independent films, she has received various accolades throughout her career, inclu ...
, and follows a
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
record store owner who tries to convince his daughter to start a band with him after a song they recorded goes viral.
It had its world premiere at the
2018 Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2018 and was released in the United States on June 8, 2018, by Gunpowder & Sky.
Plot
Frank Fisher, a former musician who lost his wife in a biking accident, owns a failing vinyl shop called
Red Hook Records in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York. His daughter Sam is slated to leave for the West Coast to study pre-med at the end of the summer. Despite Sam's desire to study and spend time with her girlfriend Rose, Frank incessantly urges her to play music with him. Sam reveals she wrote a song titled “Hearts Beat Loud” during a jam session. They spend the night recording and mixing the entire song. Frank uploads the song to
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
without Sam's permission and it becomes a viral success.
Frank tries to convince Sam to start a music duo, but the latter is reluctant, still determined to become a doctor. Regardless, Frank adopts an off-beat band name “We’re Not A Band” from Sam's refusals. Sam secretly writes another song about her relationship with Rose called "Blink (One Million Miles)," while Frank writes "Everything Must Go" about his closing business. In the meantime, Frank's landlady and loyal customer, Leslie offer a proposition to save Red Hook by remodeling it with a café to potentially lure more customers, to which Frank is stubbornly hesitant.
A talent agent approaches Frank and offers We’re Not A Band a record deal. Frank is ecstatic at the opportunity, but Sam turns it down. When Frank brings up her deceased mother's possible approving view of the opportunity, Sam angrily storms out. Despondent, Frank bitterly rejects Leslie's offer to save Red Hook. Frank initiates a massive sale on the shop's final day of business and apologizes to Leslie through a voicemail. He is visited by Sam, who with a change of heart convinces Frank to play live music with her as the customers browse the shop. The duo plays “Hearts Beat Loud,” "Blink (One Million Miles)", and "Everything Must Go," pleasing the onlooking, ever-growing customers, including Leslie and Rose. At summer's end, Red Hook closes and Frank accepts a job at a bar owned by his best friend, Dave. In Frank's final scene, Leslie comes into the bar, and she and Frank talk animatedly over drinks as the camera fades out of the scene. Sam moves to the West Coast to begin her studies and sings “Hearts Beat Loud” solo during an
open mic
An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, usually taking place at night, in which audience members may perform on stage whether the ...
event.
Cast
*
Nick Offerman
Nicholas David Offerman (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor, writer, comedian, producer, and carpenter. He is best known for his role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom ''Parks and Recreation'', for which he received the Television Critics A ...
as Francis James "Frank" Fisher, Sam's father, Marianne's son, and Dave's best friend
*
Kiersey Clemons
Kiersey Nicole Clemons (born December 17, 1993) is an American actress. She is known for her role in the 2015 comedy-drama film '' Dope'', playing Cassandra "Diggy" Andrews. Subsequently, she went on to co-star in '' Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising ...
as Samantha Lee "Sam" Fisher, Frank's daughter, Marianne's granddaughter, and Rose's girlfriend
*
Toni Collette
Toni Collette Galafassi (born Toni Collett; 1 November 1972) is an Australian actress, producer, singer, and songwriter. Known for her work in television and independent films, she has received various accolades throughout her career, inclu ...
as Leslie, Frank's landlady
*
Sasha Lane
Sasha Bianca Lane (born September 29, 1995) is an American actress. She made her film debut in ''American Honey'' (2016), directed by Andrea Arnold, before portraying Hunter C-20 in the first season of the Disney+ television series ''Loki'', set ...
as Rose, Sam's girlfriend
*
Ted Danson
Edward Bridge "Ted" Danson III (born December 29, 1947) is an American actor. He achieved stardom playing the lead character Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'', for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. He ...
as Dave, Frank's best friend
*
Blythe Danner as Marianne Fisher, Frank's mother and Sam's grandmother
Production
In July 2017,
Kiersey Clemons
Kiersey Nicole Clemons (born December 17, 1993) is an American actress. She is known for her role in the 2015 comedy-drama film '' Dope'', playing Cassandra "Diggy" Andrews. Subsequently, she went on to co-star in '' Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising ...
joined the cast of the film, with
Brett Haley
Brett Haley (born ) is an American filmmaker and actor best known for his work on '' The Hero'' and ''Hearts Beat Loud''.
Early life
Haley was born in Illinois and raised in Key West, Florida and Pensacola, Florida. Haley developed an inter ...
directing from a screenplay he co-wrote with Marc Basch. Houston King, Sam Bisbee, and
Sam Slater produced the film, under their Burn Later Productions, Houston King Productions and Park Pictures banners respectively. That same month,
Nick Offerman
Nicholas David Offerman (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor, writer, comedian, producer, and carpenter. He is best known for his role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom ''Parks and Recreation'', for which he received the Television Critics A ...
,
Toni Collette
Toni Collette Galafassi (born Toni Collett; 1 November 1972) is an Australian actress, producer, singer, and songwriter. Known for her work in television and independent films, she has received various accolades throughout her career, inclu ...
,
Sasha Lane
Sasha Bianca Lane (born September 29, 1995) is an American actress. She made her film debut in ''American Honey'' (2016), directed by Andrea Arnold, before portraying Hunter C-20 in the first season of the Disney+ television series ''Loki'', set ...
,
Ted Danson
Edward Bridge "Ted" Danson III (born December 29, 1947) is an American actor. He achieved stardom playing the lead character Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'', for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. He ...
and
Blythe Danner joined the cast of the film.
Keegan DeWitt composed the film's score and all of the original songs, including the title track "Hearts Beat Loud".
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
began in August 2017. It was filmed in
Red Hook, Brooklyn
Red Hook is a neighborhood in northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, New York, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. It is located on a peninsula projecting into the Upper New York Bay and is bounded by the Gowanus Expressway and the Car ...
, at locations including the coffee shop Baked and the bar Sunny's.
Release
The film had its world premiere at the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
on January 26, 2018. Prior to,
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (SPWA) is a specialty film division of Sony Pictures. The company specializes in acquiring and producing films for a wide variety of distribution platforms.
History
The group became a stand-alone division of ...
and Gunpowder & Sky acquired international and U.S. distribution rights to the film, respectively. It was released on June 8, 2018.
Reception
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, and an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "Thoroughly sweet, comfortably familiar, and elevated by the chemistry between Nick Offerman and Kiersey Clemons, ''Hearts Beat Loud'' offers feel-good father-daughter drama." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
References
External links
*
{{Brett Haley
2018 films
American comedy-drama films
American LGBT-related films
2018 independent films
Films about music and musicians
Films about parenting
Films directed by Brett Haley
Films scored by Keegan DeWitt
Films set in Brooklyn
Films shot in New York City
2018 LGBT-related films
LGBT-related comedy-drama films
2018 comedy-drama films
Films about father–daughter relationships
2010s English-language films
2010s American films