Once, Again

[migrated from myspace blog]

I went downtown last night and saw Once.

Thematically the movie is very similar to Brief Encounter (which I haven't watched for more than a year precisely because of the plot), or Lost in Translation. This movie could easily have turned out to be some clichéd student film if not for the music. But ultimately that doesn't matter, because this film wouldn't exist without the music, just like Moulin Rouge without music, or Lost in Translation without Tokyo. It's impossible to seperate music from the film, seeing as how much of the movie is based around the writing, performing, and recording of these very songs. The acting is very naturalistic (having musicians instead of actors in the roles), which helps create the illusion that we're actually watching a documentary, and the relationship between "Guy" and "Girl" is believable, despite the fact the Glen is about 18 years older than Markéta. It's an intense 1-week relationship. The kind that doesn't happen in real life, but neither do people dress up like bats to fight crime. That doesn't stop us from enjoying the story. I don't usually mind R-rated language, but someone it just felt wrong in this film. It felt forced, and out of place, and is really the only criticism I can make (perhaps because I know I'd like to show the movie to people when I buy that DVD who I know would be offended by it.) Everything else about the film, especially the music, was perfection.

As I mentioned, one of the biggest draws for me was the music. (The album is currenty 88 on Billboard, having peaked at 71.) The songs have already been in constant rotation for me since I first saw the movie trailer. If anything, this just made my first viewing of the film that much better. The films leads have been been playing a few dates around the U.S. under the name they first used to record, The Swell Season. If this movie and its soundtrack don't make stars out of these two, then we might as well give up on music altogether and all listen to "new country" and rap.

Not only am I now a fan of the music of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, but Hansard's band The Frames. To paraphrase a line from Serenity, "How is it there's a whole band called The Frames and ain't none of us ever heard of them?" Well, I've never heard of them anyway, but it seems most of their fans will quickly proclaim that they're the best Irish band out there. Not U2 or the Cranberries...The Frames. They are known for their incredible live shows, and a quick YouTube search will show that fans at the shows are more than just fans. They're fanatics. (There are also 3 live shows hosted at archive.org, which I haven't had a chance to listen to just yet.) Here's hoping The Frames can crack the U.S., musically, and bring their live shows with them to more than just a few cities.