My wife and I just watched the most wonderful little film. It stars nobody. It earned under $10 million at the U.S. box office. Its director/writer said you could fit a summary of its plot on “a postage stamp.” It clocked in at 81 minutes before the credits rolled. And it was fantastic.
It’s called Once
I don’t mean to oversell the film – it’s not Citizen Kane, or, more to the point, My Fair Lady – but it’s a very sweet and honest movie. The plot revolves around an Irish busker who meets a Czech immigrant woman on the street; over the next several days, they form a quick bond around music and end up forming an impromptu band and recording a demo of the busker’s own songs. Without giving away the ending, that’s about it for the plot. It’s much more about capturing little sentiments, often wordlessly, and other times via the movie’s original songs (the star and the director were both members of an Irish band called The Frames). Best of all, it avoids the forced plot twists that drive so many Hollywood films today, instead letting the characters drive the simple story.
You might have to like acoustic-based indie rock to fully get into the movie, but the songs themselves are deftly integrated into the storyline, and director John Carney manages to sneak in the occasional nod to music videos. Rent it or buy it, and then root for the song “Falling Slowly” at the Grammys and the Oscars over the next few weeks.
I checked this movie out last week – http://sansmenu.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/once/ – I thoroughly enjoyed it, and your point about liking acoustic rock may be true.
Yep, great little flick.
Luckily Disney was stopped in their attempt to kick Once off the nomination list at the Oscars.
There was the movie titled Commitment around 1991, and Glen Hansard was on that one. I have not watched, but remember the soundtrack was on the billboard.
This was such a refreshing movie because it doesn’t quite go where you expect it to (or where we’ve been conditioned as moviegoers to anticipate). The way the lead characters connect on screen is captivating.
Great movie that I re-watched the other day on a whim. Weird.
Some of my friends thought it was a little slow, but I think there some some subtle moments that they missed, the awkward silences between the two and such.
And I thought the ending was great. SPOILER: But, his father gave him enough money for a piano and a ticket?
Miluju tebe.
And I went to 27 Dresses last night, with a female friend, (only reason why I’d go) so I saw two ends of the romantic movie spectrum yesterday.
If any readers are interested, I’d give 27 Dresses a C. It was your average romantic comedy.
I had no idea Hansard was in The Commitments. We saw that movie in the theaters in August of ’91, first summer we dated. Movie was a bit long but a lot of fun.
Without giving away any spoilers to those who have not seen it, make sure to check out what the Czech girl says to Hansard’s character when he asks her if she loves her husband (she responds in Czech). 🙂
Hansard was the guitar player with the long red hair in The Committments. Once is a great movie that once again shows that a good idea done well always beats a bad idea no matter how much money you throw at it.
The Baltimore Orioles should have it on a continuous loop until they understand.
Super Bowl pick?
Let’s not forget Hansard’s amazing band The Frames… definitely a must see if they’re in the neighborhood
I saw Glen and Marketa live in DC after the movie came out. Just a brilliant movie. It was a “seated” show when i bought the ticket, became a shoulder to shoulder sellout after. Just brilliant, and they were genuinely touched. They encored with a wonderful rendition of Bob Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin Nowhere”. The performance is on npr’s All Song’s Considered site if you sniff around. (and if you hear someone yelling “Freebird” right before the encore, I sheepishly confess)
It may be the best movie I’ve seen in 5 or so years.
This a beautiful movie. I was discussing it with a co-worker, who is also a musician (irish fiddle is how she describes her genre), and we both loved it. My favorite scene is when the engineer realizes that this band of misfits might really be creating something approaching greatness. I never would have even heard of this movie if it hadn’t been for my knowledge of Keith Law and his work with Baseball Prospectus. Thank you, Keith.
Keith, I saw this based on your recommendation, probably would never have heard of it otherwise, I love the way Roger Ebert put it: “It’s one of those films where you hold your breath, hoping it knows how good it is, and doesn’t take a wrong turn. It doesn’t”