In the '80's I played softball on fields in Red Hook that weren't very nice, a microcosm of the area back then. That's about all I know about the famous Brooklyn neighborhood, which I've read has been revitalized like much of NYC the past 30 or so years. It is the setting for a fine independent film,
Hearts Beat Loud (2018), which I watched last night courtesy of Netflix. The story centers on a single father's loving relationship with his daughter, who will soon enroll at UCLA. For 17 years he's run a vinyl record store, which appeases him for a musical career that went nowhere. The shop is now failing. He uploads a song the two of them recorded to Spotify, and it draws interest, including from someone in the business. The young woman must now make the difficult choice between music and pre-med. This is a film with such heart that it is not derailed by political correctness. If the absence of the mother is explained, I missed it. Did she die or leave? That doesn't detract much, either. Nor does the pooh-poohing of shop-lifting, in which grandma engages. She is played by one of the most underrated actresses of all-time, Blyhe Danner. Toni Collette and Ted Danson also lend their considerable talents to the production as, respectively, the kind landlord and bar owner. Another aspect, besides its sweet sincerity and positivism, that raises the flick to well above average is the quality of the three songs the duo plays. They are catchy and don't sound at all fake. This is now a common occurrence in modern cinema. In the past the compositions were sadly lacking. Nick Offerman is solid as the dad. He has an amazing career going, a multitude of credits acting, writing, directing and producing. He is also a good guitarist. Kiersey Clemens, a fine singer, is touching as the daughter. The movie was directed by Brett Haley, his third stint at the helm of a full length feature after many shorts and work on TV series. He collaborated on the screenplay with Marc Basch. 5000+ users at IMDb have rated
Hearts..., forging to a consensus of 6.9 on a scale of ten. I did not find any info on the budget, but I'm sure it wasn't very high. The film returned two million+ at the box office, and my guess is that DVD rentals and sales, and streaming has led to a small profit. Anyone offended by lesbian liplocks should pass. It doesn't bother me nearly as much as men kissing. Most males might react like me, immediately thinking "threesome!" Here's a still of the leads in character:
And here's a link to the video for the title track, which features clips from the
film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jqY33OeY80
Guess who was back on the golf course after a 69-day absence, teeing it up with Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus at Mar a Lago:
My thanks to whomever bought copies of my books this week at Amazon. There were four Kindle downloads of
Inside Out, at least one sale of it in print, and one of
A Hitch in Twilight.
It was very cold when I began setting up shop on Bay Parkway. I thought I'd be spending a lot of time in the car, but my clothes and sneakers, all black, absorbed the heat so that I wasn't cold even when it was time to go home. I stood with my back to the wall right beside the entrance to Chase, basking in the brilliant sunshine. My thanks to the gentleman who bought a book in Russian, and to the woman who did a swap of such, and to the young man who purchased Moliere's
Le Misanthrope and a Theodore Dreiser short story collection. I had a chuckle when a middle age guy with a heavy accent asked about my books. He parked his bike and examined a few. Looking through
Exchanges, he came upon he word he didn't understand, which he pronounced, accent on the second syllable, "smirk-edd." I pantomimed its meaning. He laughed but didn't buy any books.
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