Hearts Beat Loud follows single father Frank Fisher and his daughter, Sam as they embark on a journey of love, growing up and music.
Nick Offerman stars as Frank Fisher, a single father who owns a record store in Brooklyn’s trendy Red Hook neighborhood. That’s right a real, honest to goodness record store… actual vinyl records.
You might know Nick Offerman from Parks and Recreation and Curb Your Enthusiasm, but you’ll see a different side of Nick in this movie.
Frank’s biracial daughter, Sam (Kiersey Clemon) is about to head off to UCLA medical school, so he reluctantly decides to sell his floundering business to help her with college expenses.
I loved Kiersey Clemons’ genuine and natural performance as Sam and her voice is perfect for the title song of the movie.
Kiersey has appeared in Flatliners, The Only Living Boy in New York as well as her role in Transparent, in the Netflix original series Easy. She has also joined Rashida Jones as a series regular for the fourth season of TBS’ Angie Tribeca. I’m sure we will see more of her on the big screen.
The Daddy/Daughter ‘Jam Sesh’
“When Life hands you conundrums, you turn them into art.”
You can see the special closeness and love between this father and daughter. The years of real conversations and sincere emotions are evident in their inaction with each. And in how casually Frank asks his daughter if her current happy mood is because she has a girlfriend.
Frank and is a true music lover. He was a struggling musician for years. It’s in his blood. He shared that love of music with Sam and with her mother.
After the death of Sam’s mother, Frank opens Red Hook Music, a vintage record store where he spends his days selling music instead of making music. It’s all worth it to him. Sam shares Frank’s talent and love of music during their weekly ‘jam sessions’.
Frank wants to have one more of their jam session before Sam moves thousands of miles away to California. Sam has written a song and they play it during their last “jam sesh“. Frank loves it and wants to continue with a live act. But Sam is determined to have a “real” career as a doctor.
As a last-ditch effort to stay connected with his daughter, Frank submits their first song to Spotify and it becomes an Internet breakout hit.
The Neighborhood
Frank’s life in Red Hood is filled with quirky friends and family, including his shop-lifting mother, Marianne played by Blythe Danner and Toni Collette, as his landlord, Leslie, and possible love interest.
Frank spends his evenings at the local bar chatting with his friend Dave, the pot-smoking bar owner, played by Ted Danson (can poor Ted never get from behind the bar?).
Hearts Beat Loud is my favorite movie from the Dallas International Film Festival. It is a wonderful heartwarming movie directed by Brett Haley.
I love movies like this. Movies filled with interesting, likable, and diverse characters that surprise me. Will there be a happy ending? What will they do next? Only the writer and director know.
