Press Play and Love Again

Laura (Clara Rugaard) can hardly believe her luck: In Harrison (Lewis Pullman) she has found the great love. Together, the two spend a dreamy summer, constantly accompanied by their own personal mixtape full of songs that remind them of the best moments as a couple. But fate is not kind to the young couple: Harrison dies in an accident. It's a loss Laura can't really deal with for a long time. Only after years does she manage to listen to the mixtape again. What happens then cannot be explained rationally: When listening to the songs, she always travels back to the particular moment that was so special for her and Harrison. Laura realizes that she is being given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to save Harrison - but fate won't be changed that easily....

"Press Play and Love Again" is the feature film debut of writer-director Greg Björkman, who previously worked on the successful teen romance "Fate Is a Lousy Traitor". In his film, protagonist Laura is also able to deliver a similarly scathing conclusion about fate. How she then gets a second chance with the help of music, however, is not entirely cliché-free, but quite charmingly realized. Certainly, anyone who has seen a love story before will quickly guess the outcome. But the way there is entertaining and emotional, embedded in beautiful shots of the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

Inspired by time travel films like "Back to the Future" and "All a Matter of Time", Björkmann's debut doesn't really approach their quality, though. But carried by the really convincing young Dane Clara Rugaard ("I am Mother") and the likeable Lewis Pullman ("Top Gun: Maverick"), the romance works even in its somewhat tamer moments. Certainly, from the nice idea could have been made a lot more (where already a little more familiar songs would have helped), but for a debut without a huge budget, the result is always satisfactory.

"Press Play and Love Again" certainly doesn't have what it takes to become a true classic among romances for a rather youthful target audience. However, the film is certainly suitable for a romantic movie night. And for that, the bottom line is an absolutely satisfied: worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp