Toronto Video Blog: How I Fell In Love With Can A Song Save Your Life

Every once in a while, at a major film festival like Toronto – where hundreds of titles are shown over the duration of the fest – you take a chance on a movie that you think is going to be in your wheelhouse … and it knocks you on your ass.

For me, that movie this year is John Carney’s Can a Song Save Your Life? It’s John Carney’s follow-up to his award-winning musical romance Once, and it also deals with affairs of the heart (and of the ear). It’s decidedly more polished than his beloved indie, and it has a bankable cast – with Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Catherine Keener and The Voice co-stars Adam Levine and Cee-Lo Green co-starring – which will help at the box office. And it’s a crowd-pleaser … a stand-up-and-cheer celebration of songwriting and losing yourself in a perfectly constructed pop song. I’ll explain why I loved it so much in the podcast below.

I’ll also try and explain why Richard Ayoade’s The Double has been recommended by virtually every person I’ve run into up here. And why Stephen Frears’ Philomena works well – but targets a specific audience. Here’s the latest update from TIFF.

For more coverage from this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, click here!

Sean O'Connell
Managing Editor

Sean O’Connell is a journalist and CinemaBlend’s Managing Editor. Having been with the site since 2011, Sean interviewed myriad directors, actors and producers, and created ReelBlend, which he proudly cohosts with Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy. And he's the author of RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT, the Spider-Man history book WITH GREAT POWER, and an upcoming book about Bruce Willis.