Someone Great: The Soundtrack About Letting Go
The Netflix film Someone Great, directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson explores the idea of letting go of your love with an amazing soundtrack that deepens the storyline. The music writer Jenny (Gina Rodriguez) struggles in the wake of a breakup from her longtime boyfriend Nate (LaKeith Stanfield) as her two best friends, Erin and Blair (DeWanda Wise and Brittany Snow) help her over the grieving process. The whole film documents Jenny’s one day in New York getting prepared to visit the Neon Classic, a music festival. It is a day filled with nostalgia, sadness, and flashbacks. She spends the day with her best friends, experiencing the bitter side of moving on and growing up.
The director, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson says, about the soundtrack in the movie, “What’s so fun about being able to put music to picture in that way and use music in that way is it’s like I get to create my own little mixtape and give it to people, and I love doing that.” This technique shows the modernity in her storytelling, aside from the use of technology.
Technology and social media has become an important part of the love language of the millennials. Thus, it is admirable to see the director beautifully locate it in the beginning montage of the movie. Instagram and stories, texts and emojis show the status of Jenny’s and Nate’s (LaKeith Stanfield) relationship. Until one day Jenny texts him ‘I love you’ and while he seems to be typing, there is no reply. There is a parallel between the world of technology and the physical world. We see them from finding their spot in Washington Square Park to finally disintegrating.
What increases the emotional intensity of all this is Lorde’s gut wrenching song called ‘Supercut’ in the very beginning. It is a song about the best memories mashed up together to all the downfalls within it. It is about not being able to disconnect oneself from all the highs and the lows of the relationship because the person means so much to you. And the most heart breaking part is reminding yourself “It’s just a supercut of us.” All those memories are unreachable because of what they are — just memories that do not exist anymore.
But her friends are there. The film is lauded for its portrayal of female friendships. It is not petty, jealous rivalry as has so long been part of the celluloid. It is full of support and love. There is a scene, as ‘Call On Me’ is playing, with them deciding to get ready and go to the festival. But it is more about spending as much time with each other as possible before all of them grow up and move their separate ways. This one day is about being irresponsible, about making bad decisions, being careless and arrogant about being young.
The song ‘Cornelia Street’ by Taylor Swift tells how when a prominent relationship comes to an end, everything you used to do spells out that person’s name. For Jenny, the whole New York City screams of Nate. The city becomes the repository of their emotions. A storehouse, a photo album, a diary of all that they went through. All the secrets of their relations and connection is only known to this giant, mess of a city. When she wakes up in her room, from the last night of the break up, she doesn’t feel like herself anymore. We see her holding it all in and singing Lizzo’s ‘Truth Hurts’ and feeling so empowered, if only for a minute?
But as soon as ‘Mansard Roof’ from Vampire Weekend start to play, she is transported back to the time when she first met Nate. At that time, she was insecure and sad. The guy she wanted to come with, seems to totally ignore her while hanging out with other girls. And that’s when she finds Nate. He was her knight in shining armor in a way, who would give her all that she deserved. However as the song goes on “The ground beneath their feet is nautically mapped sheet/ As thin as paper while it slips away from view” saying how memories an the past slip away from us in a manner of time.
When their relationship shows first signs of strain, ‘Your Best American Girl’ by Mitski plays in the background. A perfect song to show how despite their love, they cannot overcome the differences. If you are in a relationship from a young age, you never get a chance to grow on your own. Your whole identity is build not around who you are but who you are in love with. There is a constant conflict between choosing yourself and the other person.
Jenny’s decision to go to San Francisco for her Rolling Stone job brought about her and Nate’s nine year relationship to an end. But it is not only just a job. It is a step taken to know herself apart from Nate. The song says how to give her happiness, her being to another person makes her existence pointless. To submit oneself fully to love like this — is it enough? “If I could, I’d be your little spoon/ And kiss your finger forevermore. But big spoon/ you have so much to do, And I have nothing ahead of me.”
Jenny has a full breakdown over ‘Dreaming of you’ by Selena in a tiny bodega. She is singing her heart out, clutching her friends, getting ripped over by the emotions. Sometimes the only way out of the pain is to sit with it. One of the highlights of the film for me is the song ‘Great One’ by Jesse Reyez — ‘What is life? What is love? The existential questions one has post-break up till it explodes into “Everything is nothing without you.” She sees Nate at this moment in the Neon Classic and he sees her. She mouths “I love you” and he says “Forever.”
When you love someone, you give a part of yourself that is never known by anybody else. When you love someone, it’s like you have known them your whole life. And when the time comes to leave that person, you realize you don’t know who you without them. It is the most messy, heartbreaking and difficult process to go through because the ‘now’ becomes a memory and the feeling is shattering. One of the most beautiful things in life is to know someone. Really know them. To find that someone great who gets you, who understands you, who knows you.
This is the closure. This is the final understanding that their love for each other will never die out. That it is a type of love that needs to cherished happily, to be remembered always. Love is so much more than just being in a mode of perfect couple. It is about messes, mistakes, laughter, moving on and eventually even letting go. The most hard-hitting song ‘Reasons not to die’ by Ryn Weaver plays as she leaves the festival just after meeting Nate. She looks out of the car window and watches the whole relationship playing out on the streets. This is a version of her she has to end. She will still survive, she will still have reasons to live.
Fun Fact: Taylor Swift’s ‘Clean’ inspired Jennifer to write this movie. And later, this movie inspired Taylor herself to write her song ‘Death by a Thousand Cuts.’
Listen to the songs on Spotify now!!
Read our other articles/reviews on movies:
Gully Boy: Art and Authenticity
Marriage Story: Growing Apart and Coming Together
Tales of Women in Hindi Cinema
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Originally published at https://flickerflick.org on March 22, 2021.
