Preston Barta
Audio By Carbonatix
Austin’s South by Southwest Film & TV Festival certainly has a specific kind of electricity. The city buzzes with the excitement of new art from all over the world. This year, that hum turned into a roaring melody at the North American premiere of Power Ballad. Co-written and directed by John Carney, the film brings together the comedic brilliance of Paul Rudd and the dramatic depth of Dallas-born musician Nick Jonas.
Carney has a rare gift for weaving deeply human stories through the art of making music. He did it with Once, and Sing Street, and he does it again here. Standing on the Paramount Theatre stage before the screening, the Irish filmmaker confessed a deep connection to the Lone Star State. He explained that Texas filmmaker Richard Linklater is a massive influence on his work, believing Linklater gave him “permission to make films.” Carney admits that watching Before Sunset when his own career was struggling made him believe he “could do it again.”
That exact spirit of finding your footing rests at the core of Power Ballad.
The film tackles the modern struggle for artistic originality. It zeroes in on the relentless pressure to feed the attention economy and find self-worth in a world eager for validation. We follow a humorous wedding band called Bride & Groove, anchored by Rudd’s character. The beloved actor does what he does best by dropping hilarious zingers to keep the tempo up. Opposite him is Jonas, playing Danny, a former boy-bander trying to build a solo career, though he has taken the “scenic route.” Danny finds himself doing reality TV stunts — like eating bugs — while wrestling with his own artistic worth.
For Jonas, stepping into this role meant drawing on his own deep roots. Before the flashing lights of the premiere, we caught up with him on the red carpet to talk about his North Texas origins, and it’s clear that Dallas shaped his artistic vision.
“The big open skies and the vast nature” gave him “this feeling as a young person… that there’s this great big world out there left to explore,” Jonas told us. He noted that “the Texas sky is in probably thousands of songs and will be for a long time because of those shared feelings.”
Despite global fame, Jonas keeps his hometown close. When he comes back, his go-to spot is simple and perfect: “[Babe’s Chicken] out in Roanoke… for some fried chicken.” He also pointed to a defining career moment right in our backyard at the State Fair of Texas, recalling looking out at the audience and thinking, “Wow, our lives are changed forever.”
That hometown grounding helps him deliver a performance full of internal dialogue in Power Ballad. You can feel the heavy industry pressure placed on his character by managers trying to manufacture content.
Rudd brings an equally compelling weight to the screen. He plays a man whose life has not unfolded exactly as he had hoped. On the red carpet, Rudd explained how playing a character who is “somewhat long in the tooth” mirrored his own personal growth. As he gets older, he becomes “a little bit more aware of what is important, what it is that I really value, what it is that I treasure.” He noted that his life and his character’s journey “run parallel to one another,” which deeply informed his performance.
Power Ballad succeeds as a fantastic hangout movie. It sings with insanely catchy tracks that could easily become the anthems of your summer. At one point, a character describes a song as “a metaphor for taking a risk,” and that is exactly what the film feels like. Beyond the laughs and the music, the film holds a touching father-daughter story. It delivers a massive emotional payoff by the final act that might leave you in a pool of your own tears.
Carney proves once again that music can bridge the gap between who we are and who we want to be, underscoring the magic of collaboration. If you want to see a sweet, dramatically intense, and creatively rich film about artistic ownership, Power Ballad hits all the right notes.
Power Ballad held its North American premiere at SXSW on Mar. 14. Before the film hits theaters nationwide on June 5, it will screen at the Dallas International Film Festival during its run from April 23 – 30 at Cinépolis Luxury
Cinemas Victory Park. Check the festival’s website for screening dates and details.
