Reflections on Live Performance and Legacy

This message comes from IXL. IXL is designed to help students strengthen core skills and build confidence before the new school year begins. The adaptive platform provides personalized learning for pre K through twelfth grade and is used in ninety six of the top one hundred school districts in the United States. One hour of tutoring can cost more than an entire month of IXL Receive an exclusive twenty percent discount on an XL membership at xL d. com slash npR Director John Carney makes movies about music, from the thrill of performing it to the collaborations and chemistry that go into creating it His filmography includes Sing Street and Once, which won an Oscar for Best Original song. Carney's new movie is Power Ballad, which stars Paul Rudd as a wedding singer and Nick Jonas as a pop star whose career gets an unlikely boost. And I'm just gonna say up front that I love this movie, I'm Linda Holmes. And I'm Stehven Thompson. Today we are talking about Power Ballad on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR This message is from AT and T with your summer essential, the iPhone seventeen Pro. Its center stage front camera auto adjusts the frame to fit everyone into group selfies. Right now at AT andT, ask how you can get iPhone seventeen Pro on them with eligible trade in. Requires eligible plan, terms and restrictions apply subject to change Visit aTt. com slash iPhone for details This message comes from Better Help Summer can feel like a sprint, kids home, trips to plan, routines flipped upside down. It's easy to slip into survival mode, just trying to get through it Then suddenly it's over And you're wishing you enjoyed the days just a little bit more therapy can help you slow down and actually be present for the moments that matter. With better helpel, you can connect with a licensed therapist from anywhere on your schedule Don't just survive the summer To Thrive, visit betterhelp d. com slash andPR This message comes from NPR sponsor Carvana. making buying a car one hundred percent online with real transparent pricing and customizable financing that fits your budget. Browse thousands of cars and get yours delivered. Visit cararvana. com today. Delivery fees and terms may apply joining us today is culture Critic, Kristine Mineser, Hey, Kristen. Hi guys, how are you? Doing great. Gad to have you here. Power Ballad stars Paul Rud as Rick Power, the frontm of an Irish wedding band called The Bride and Groove Rick once had a record deal, but his career never took off, and his life took a different turn when he fell in love with a woman in Ireland and started a family with her there While performing at a wedding, Rick meets an American pop star named Danny Wilson. He's played by Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers. Danny used to be in a boy band, and his career seems to be on the downswing After the wedding he and Rick meet, bond, hangout, get drunk, and work on a few songs together And along the way, Rick plays Danny a song he'd written years earlier called How to Write a Song Without You Keep to how to write a song going every time you write a song without you is every song I ever wrote Aout Yeah. Hart ways on joyous terms and Rick goes about his life until one day he hears how to write a song without you and learns that the song has reignited Danny's career. everywhere and Danny's everywhere, but Rick has been denied creative credit and songwriting royalties. Worst of all, Rick has no proof that it was ever his song Power Ballad is in theaters now, Linda, I'm gonna start with you. We kind of teased it up front. What did you think of this movie? Yeah, I've been referring to this as the most Linda coed movie of the year. and I think you know, it's love of music, the presence of Paul Rudd, who's one of my favorite actors. There are a bunch of things about this that make it really very much for me, but I really think the more I have thought about and sat with this film, the more I feel like I have understood what it is about. becausecause one thing that's interesting, you know you talked in the intro about Carney having made these really great films about creative collaboration and understanding between musicians. And this, of course, is really an example of that kind of turning bad, For Rick in the sense that this night that he spends jamming with Danny becomes this nightmare. So it's kind of interesting to think So why is John Carney making a movie that is about credit and money and the pain of not getting credit and money when his whole thing has always been the joy and the beauty of creating something wonderful, right? for its own sake. And what I have come away with about this is that I think This is a very good film about how important it is to creative people, to artists to make something good and how hard it is to convince yourself that you have made something good because so many of the indicators of having made something good, whether it's sales, or reviews or public sentiment are so unreliable And so there's this tantalizing sense that maybe Rick has a chance to learn for good that he has made something good. He has made a good song and he's being denied that feedback loop of you have done well. You have created something beautiful. and he's trying to figure out how to live with that experience But I think it's a movie about wanting to make beautiful things in a very personal way. And in that sense, and we can talk more about this later or not, I think it's an anti AI movie maybe accidentally. I think all good things are inadvertently anti AI. But here's the thing. I think it's a film about the fact that what gives something life as a piece of art is that someone loved it and cared about it. And that theme comes up in this film a couple of times. And in that sense, I think it's an anti AI movie So I both greatly enjoyed this movie, but I also think it has a bunch of really interesting things So you are you are pro power bals Holmesy, I got to sit next to you watching this film and Feeling your love made me love it that much more. We'll get to my thoughts in a second. Kristen, I'm dying here. What did you think of the movie? Well, first of all, I gotta say, Linda, I think you and I saw two different movies because even though I am also pro power ballad To me, it wasn't about becoming art because people love it. To me it was about the journey of Being beautiful and good on its own and it doesn't have to be in a stadium for it to matter. Oh, I think that's true too. because I feel like that's what the whole thing. it's like Paul Rud, All he wants is to be playing Madison Square Garden. And to me, that's not a worthy goal. That doesn't make me want to cheer for him. What makes me want to cheer for him is I want him to get the credit that he justly deserves. and I want him to appreciate what he has. And to me, that's really what the story is about. And the same thing with Nick Jonas's character about being able to appreciate what he has, including his limitations and give credit to those who maybe can help him do better. but that journey to me made the movie interesting because I think oftentimes movies about music are about that fame about that recognition or on the flip side, it's worthy even though I live in a rat infested one room studio with eight other roommates and so on. And this kind of talks about both sides of those things, right? So I really appreciate that. but I also want to say really in particular enjoyed Nick Jonas in this movie. I never thought I would be a Nick Jonas stand like I was watching this. I thought My God, I can see why he's a pllatinum music artist. I can see the charisma, I can see the talent He is perfectly cast as the boy band. guy going solo in this movie. And I can see why everybody's going wild and wanting to throw their underpants at him. He's fantastic in this movie. And he and Paul Rud play off of each other so well. I just loved how they played off of each other The only minor criticism I have in this is, I wish the two female romantic partners were just a little tiny, more developed, like Nick Jonas's girlfriend Marshall. I wish there was more to her than what was there. And I wish that Paul Rud's wife was more than the perfect wife because she is one hundred percent perfect all the time and does always the right thing I kind of wish that there was just a little bit more to each of those characters didn't have to be like an extra twenty minutes added to the movie, mayaybe just like an extra like one or two minutes with each of them, I think, would have done wonders for their characters, even though I know the movie's not really about those characters. It's interesting becausecause when we came out of the movie, one of the things I said to Steven was that Danny's girlfriend, who is played by Havana Rose Lou, who's a really good actor's also in Tuner, a movie that's out right now that I really like. She's done some other stuff is really barely in the movie. She, I would say has kind of one scene. and it's hard for me to imagine that that was the original vision of this character. I can't imagine there wasn't more in it about her originally and I presumably got edited for whatever reason. Yeah, I agree almost entirely with everything both of you have said, but I'm surprised we've kind of gotten as far into this conversation as we have without talking about what for me is the central thing that works so beautifully about this film and a thing that if it didn't work as beautifully as it does, the film falls apart, which is the central song.. The song at the center of this movie, How to Write a Song Without You, whichich as we see in the film, it was originally kind of written by the Rick character, but it's not one hundred percent complete Ananny kind of comes in, you get all this collaboration around the song, but then we see the song become the catalyzing source of conflict in the film in part because it has become this gigantic massive pop hit. If this song does not work brilliantly as a perfectly plausible comeback hit for a former boy band star The movie falls apart And the song works beautifully This is not at the center of the conversation for Best Original song at next year's Oscars. There is something wrong. because This song does everything it is supposed to accomplish. You hum this song not only as you're walking out of the theater, but you hum this song for days after seeing this movie. You totally understand how this song becomes a staple at weddings. You understand how people are holding their phones aloft at concerts to simulate lighters It pulls off everything it's supposed to accomplish And I think That is so important. The fact that John Carney not only makes movies about music, but makes movies about music from the perspective of someone who understands it is so, so important and has been such a key to why he has so effectively made so many good movies about music. I loved this movie and I share with Linda a general love and appreciation of Paul Rud and just the vibes that he brings to everything he does. And I share Kristen's appreciation of Nick Jonas and what he brings to this film Obviously this film is going to mirror some of Nick Jonas's own career beats. Maybe Danny should become an actor. He does a really terrific job and you understand how partart of what can make colloaboration alchemic is when collaborators not only have compatible strengths, but when they have compatible weaknesses that the other person is there to address Danny's character, he is a great pop singer. When he sings alongside Paul Rudd at the beginning of this movie, you understand why he is head and shoulders. more charismatic, a stronger singer, why he would be a pop star and Paul Rud isn't But when they're collaborating as songwriters, you understand that Paul Rudd's character has instincts Danny's character doesn't necessarily have. These two guys need each other for this song to take off the way that it does. And I love the way this movie understands that and gives these characters room to have these strengths and weaknesses, and how that forms a central conflict that is extremely understandable without you viewing either of these guys as monsters or villains. Yeah, Danny's not a villain. He's done something really bad, right? He's done something that I think most creative people would consider really bad But he's not a villain. You can understand how he got there. But he also does feel some remorse too. He's not just like he does just the supervillain who's like, but it's mine now Exactly. He questions himself and he questions himself artistically, he questions himself. as what kind of person am I? And I think that Both of the characters do that throughout the movie where They're not just a hundred percent like, I'm on the right side of things. There are moments where they're like Am I being motivated by the wrong thing here? Maybe I just want to be noticed or, you know, in their own way. And one thing to go back to what you were saying, Stehven about the song, I've got to give it to John Carney and Gary Clark who wrote the song. making a song that I didn't get sick of, which wasn't the case with once. Oh my gosh Kristen, what is this blasphemy? I'm sorry, but I was like, please, may I never hear this song again for the rest of my life. Help me. Oh, Kristen and Steven are gonna have a fist fight over the internet. Kristen, these are. Fighting words. That is one of my favorite songs of all time. Okay, but how to write a song without You? They did such a good job. This song is performed in such a variety of ways in this movie, which really made me feel like I couldn't get sick of it if I'm going to hear this version as a duet and this version in Madison Square Garden We hear it in so many different ways, I think changes the song and yet still sticks with us. and the other thing the song does Not in a Netflix dating show way, but it reflects the story back at us. What the lyrics in the song are saying. Sure. Oh of course It still reflects the story without telling the story. Yeah, you know I think when you talk about the song, I would compare this to two songs that were written by Adam Schlelesinger who died a few years ago from COVID and who was in Fountains of Wayne and also became a great songwriter for television and film wrote lot for Crazy ex girlfriend and a lot of other things. But He wrote That Th You do. So good. So good. Which is a brilliant song that I still onene of the best movie songs ever. So believable as a hit. so believable That I still listen to. But also a less well known song, which is called Way Back I Love from Music and Lyrics. Yes. Oh my Godd, I'm so glad you brought that up, Linda. I was thinking about that mo be watching this one. And those are both Adam Schlassinger songs. Andes in both of those cases, the film needs the song to be, I mean, it has to be a good enough song that you wan to listen to it, right It also has to be a song that essentially like an actor is well cast. It has to be a song that can play the role in the film that it's supposed to play.es. I have a friend who's a music critic, my friend Mark Hirch, who I played this song, How to Write a song Without You him and I said, I think this is a plausible hit. What do you think And he said, yes, more like a hit from the twenty tenens and the twenty twenties, which I thought was so interesting because the backstory of the song will tell you it was not written just recently This is a song that Paul Rud has been working on that Rick has been working on for a long time. So yes, it's more of a pop song of the twenty ten s. That makes sense. Yes. Right. I mean, it's slightly Jonas Brothers coded.. It's slightly one Republic coded. It does sound like a blockbuster hit in twenty fifteen, and I think that is an absolutely apt reading of that song part of I think why it works so well. The other thing I wanted to get at about this movie that I think it captures so beautifully, the way the best movies about music do is I really think This movie gives us several different perspectives on what live performance feels like and what live performance by a really good wedding band feels like versus what really good live performance in a stadium feels like and what the strengths and limitations of those experiences are, how you can be performing in a stadium and get massive torrents of feedback but have it still feel alienating. How you can be in a room full of sweaty people who are like really feeling what you're doing, but also if you play kind of one wrong song or one wrong note, like kind of all the energy drops out of the room This film to me really understood live performance. What's really interesting is because of The hit song at the center of this being what everybody wants to hear We also see how people react when the songs are mediocre, which I think is great. because Let's be real. someome of the music that is presented that is Nick Jonas' character's music when He's not collaborating with Paul Rud. or Paul Rudd's music when he's not collaborating with Nick Jonas It's so perfectly written as mediocre music. And I don't think one of the things I really admire about the way they approach Rick and his character and what his talents are is I don't think there's any suggestion here that he is somebody who, you know is going to go off and write a string of twenty five great pop hits. I think you can watch this movie and think this is his great song R? And it's so important to him to be able to have Ownership is a weird word, but like to be able to have connection publicly have an artistic legacy. And to be able to say, I wrote that song and to be able to tell his wife and his daughter, I wrote that song. And I very much like the fact, Ste and I talked about this too, I very much like the fact there's a moment early on when Paul Rudd with the wedding band wants to play some of his original songs, not this one, but some of his original songs And one of his bandmates is sort of like, listen, people at weddings don't want to hear your original songs. You are he says a human jukebox. They want to hear songs they know, that's what weddings are for. And it kind of can sound cynical like I half expected at some point in this movie for it to be like, no, you should play your original songs at weddings and put them out there for people becausecause what really matters is your creativity, but this movie never attempts to tell you that that wedding band guy is wrong about what you should play at weddings because it lives in a reality of what it is to be a working musician, which is that this setting may call for one thing and this setting may call for something else. You know, Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas are both actors I would refer to as charismatic presences in this movie, but in really different ways The thing that makes me love this film is that I think it appreciates a lot of different things about being creative. It's okay to want to make a living