Song One

Plot

Franny Ellis (Anne Hathaway), an anthropology student, returns home from her PhD thesis work in Morocco to see her estranged brother, Henry (Ben Rosenfield), a musician who entered a coma after being hit by a car. To revive Henry and repair their relationship, Franny uses writings from Henry's journal to travel among New York City music clubs, where she takes notes on the phrases and music she observes. She fills Henry's sterile hospital room with familiar sounds and scents. Eventually, Franny meets Henry's favorite musician, James Forester (Johnny Flynn), at his concert, and convinces him to play for Henry. Franny and James explore New York City through Henry's experiences, develop a romantic relationship, and Henry awakens.

Cast

Production

Initially Franny was written as 19 years old, however after Anne Hathaway came aboard, Barker-Froyland. rewrote the part to be that of an older woman, which she notes worked well for the script as it gave Franny more reason to not want to be a musician. Hathaways previous movie Les Miserable required her to adopt a shorter hair style than usual, rather than make her regrow the hair, the director incorporated it into the script.

Filming of Song One began in June 2013 in New York City.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack, released by Lakeshore Records on January 13, 2015, contained original scores written by Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice of the indie rock duo Jenny & Johnny. Barker-Froyland met with the duo in Los Angeles and, after she listened to "Little Yellow Dress" before her plane ride to New York, decided that they would create the songs that Flynn would perform in-character.

During production, Song One producer Jonathan Demme instructed Lewis and Rice to record its music as Skip Spence recorded his 1969 psychedelic album Oar. The duo wrote eleven songs for the film, though only seven were used in its composition.

Box office

Song One premiered at the 30th Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2014, in the U.S. Dramatic Competition. Later, the film opened in a limited release on January 23, 2015, with $20,200 in gross sales generated from twenty-seven theaters in the United States. As of 5 April 2015, the film has grossed $32,251.

Critical response

Song One received mixed reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 36%, based on 44 reviews, with an average score of 5.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Song One has plenty of earnest charm, but that isn't enough to overcome its slight, familiar story." The aggregator Metacritic gave the film a score of 48 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".