I really enjoy Carney's films and love that every one of them is about music, or at least explores music as a catalyst for human relationships.

I remember watching Begin Again and enjoying it, but have no memory of the specifics. Time for a re-watch, I guess. Oddly, the only one of his films I haven't seen is Once! I plan to remedy that soon.

My favorite of his is Sing Street. It's a shame that it mostly flew under the radar, despite the critical acclaim (it’s sitting pretty at 95% on Rotten Tomatoes... the tomatometer may not be a faultless arbiter of art, but serves as a decent indicator of accessibility and relative quality). As with all of his movies, the music isn’t just decorative, but germane to the whole story.

I like that it has many layers. Broadly speaking, Sing Street illustrates the power of music as a means of discovering our best selves, but there's more to it than that. I love how it portrays the strange, romantic magic of creating music from scratch, how it speaks to the exuberance of youth, the bonds of brotherhood, and taking risks... all sprinkled with 80’s nostalgia. It just charms the heart and some of the songs are really good.

I also enjoyed Power Ballad. Has a great start, tonally sags a smidge in the middle when the protagonist... I'll just say "is having issues" (and the song could be a little better), but then Carney sticks the landing beautifully. I blinked back a few tears at the end.

Flora and Son is alright, but perhaps the runt of the litter.


P.S. By the way, if you're into films about music, I'd recommend last year's The Ballad of Wallis Island. Like Sing Street, it's criminally underseen despite the good reviews (97% RT):

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_ballad_of_wallis_island

It's a cozy gem that has a well-balanced bittersweetness... the film is poignant, sweet without being twee, and whimsical in that low-key Brit sort of way. I appreciated that the story - which explores grief, renewal, and the comforts (and limits) of nostalgia - strayed from the obvious path in a few key places.

Wallis Island features several of the soulful things I love in life, from folk music and beautiful shots of the natural world to idiotic-but-charming turns of phrase.

Not since A Real Pain, and The Holdovers before that, have I seen a film where at the end I thought, "No notes". It's a really simple movie in some ways, but nails the finer details and was my favorite of 2025 along with Weapons.

I actually have it up on my Google Drive, so if you have trouble getting it, drop me a line and I'll give you access to my link (I encoded it with the subs, though, so be warned if that irks you).

P.P.S. Another one that comes to mind is 2018's "Hearts Beat Loud" with Nick Offerman, which isn't quite at the level of Carney and is pretty slight as a story, but is still Carney-ish and sort of feel-good in a lightweight sort of way. 92% RT, 74% audience score:

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hearts_beat_loud



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/2026 11:22PM by JMac.