Power Ballad
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What is the premise of the movie Power Ballad?
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The 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 going to say up front that I love this movie. I'm Linda Holmes.
And I'm Stephen Thompson. Today we are talking about Power Ballad on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR.
Every episode of It's Been a Minute, NPR's What's Happening in Culture podcast starts by asking three questions. Who? How? Why now? If the culture's asking it, we're talking about it. At NPR, we stand for your right to be curious and indulge your cultural curiosity. Follow It's Been a Minute wherever you get your podcasts, and we'll break down the zeitgeisty topics that are filling your feed.
Joining us today is culture critic Kristen Meinzer.
How does John Carney's filmography influence Power Ballad?
Hey, Kristen. Hi, guys. How are you? Doing great. Glad to have you here. So, Power Ballad stars Paul Rudd as Rick Power, the frontman 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, hang out, 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.
She keeps the how to write a song going every time. How to write a song. Without you Cause every song I ever wrote in my life Is about you
They part 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. It's 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 going to 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 coded 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. Because one thing that's interesting, you know, you talked in the intro about Carney having made these really great films. 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 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.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the premise of the movie Power Ballad?
0:00–1:28
2
How does John Carney's filmography influence Power Ballad?
1:28–4:52
3
What challenges do the main characters face in their careers?
4:52–10:51
4
How does the song 'How to Write a Song Without You' impact the plot?
10:51–14:12
5
What themes of creative collaboration are explored in Power Ballad?
14:12–19:37
6
How do the characters' motivations shape their actions?
19:37–21:37