Review: Power Ballad

Image courtesy of Lionsgate.

Even more than Cameron Crowe, the films of Irish director John Carney are about the power that music plays in the lives of those who create and listen to it. But while his previous films - such as the lovely "Once" and "Sing Street" - are often about how creating music can improve one's life and relationships, his latest, "Power Ballad," is a tale of a song that nearly ruins a man's life.

In the film, Paul Rudd plays Rick, the frontman of a wedding gig band who lives in Ireland because, once upon a time, he played a show on the Emerald Isle, met a girl, fell in love, had a daughter, and decided to stay there. But the songs he creates in his small home studio rarely make it past the ears of his family or his bandmates, including the loyal guitarist, Sandy (Peter McDonald).

At one particular wedding, it turns out that one of the guests is Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas), a pop singer and former boyband member who is the last member of that group to have found solo success. As his manager (Jack Reynor) tells him, he's about one step away from popping up on a reality show where he has to humiliate himself. 

As an aside, I wonder if the character's name has anything to do with the Scottish band Danny Wilson, whose "Mary's Prayer" can be heard on the soundtrack and whose lead singer, Gary Clark, wrote some of the songs for this film and "Sing Street." Probably. I digress.

At the wedding, Danny is called upon by the groom to sing a song with Rick's band. They click and spend the evening afterward jamming and sharing songs with each other. One of Rick's songs, "How to Write a Song Without You," impresses Danny and they play it together.

So, it comes as a shock when, some months later, Rick hears the song playing in a shopping mall and being sung by - you guessed it - Danny Wilson. At first, Rick is flattered and excited to hear his song being performed by a superstar. But it soon becomes clear that he was robbed of his own artistic creation and begins a somewhat fruitless mission to get credit for it, a move that drives him a bit crazy in the process and irritates those around him.

In many ways, "Power Ballad" is a sad film, a picture about dreams deferred and, in this case, stolen. But while Danny is a thief, he's also not a complete villain. Rick gives a devastating analysis of him during a tete a tete when they finally come face to face in Los Angeles, where the actual context of the song is described.

While I wouldn't say "Power Ballad" is Carney's best film - that would the lovely and melancholic "Once" or the absolutely joyous "Sing Street" - it's a solid edition to a filmography that displays a love of music and stories about people connecting over it. In a summer season of movies that has, so far, been somewhat grim and gloomy, it's a welcome and comparatively cheerful respite.