I loved, loved, loved this movie. The story was totally unrealistic and yet somehow completely realistic at the same time. Once, which won the World Cinema Audience Award for a dramatic film at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, is sort of a musical. It chronicles the lives of two poor musicians, who within the course of a week meet, collaborate on an album together and fall in love.
Once stars The Frames’ Glen Hansard and Czech musician Marketa Irglova. I am a huge fan of Lay Me Down, a single by The Frames. All the music from the movie was composed and performed by Hansard and Irglova, and it’s beautiful modern rock music. It’s the kind of music that you feel like you could fall into and swim around in. There are pretty acoustic guitars and lovely piano melodies. The lyrics are honest and chronicle the pain of unhealthy relationships, being hurt, losing love and wanting love. Some of the songs do sound a bit like the Coldplay style of ballad, but it’s so much more passionate and evocative. (You can listen to the whole soundtrack free at www.foxsearchlight.com/once/) And Hansard performs some amazing vocal feats of octave jumps that sound almost operatic. The songs are brimming with emotions. I just can’t say enough good things about the music.
It was really interesting to see a movie where the main actors are not really actors at all, but musicians. The film was made on a teensy, tiny budget of $150,000, and the street scenes in Dublin were shot without permits and with a long camera lens. The film wasn’t overacted, and certainly not over-produced. At times it felt like you were watching someone’s home movies, and it was very refreshing compared to the summer blockbusters. I felt like I was watching something that was really happening; a real week in real people’s lives.
So what I found unrealistic about the film is mostly the way the characters meet. Hansard’s character works for his father fixing vacuum cleaners, and also plays his guitar on the street at a busy Dublin shopping area. Irglova’s character, who is a cleaning lady who also sells flowers on the street to support her young daugher, just approaches him one evening while he is playing and she starts asking him questions about his music and himself. This seems very dangerous to me as a girl who grew up in New York city. You don’t walk up to the street musicians, you don’t make eye contact with them, and you certainly don’t start talking to them. But maybe that’s why I don’t have a cute Irish boyfriend. Maybe not.
What I found very realistic about the movie is that the characters do not get together in a romantic way. They don’t even kiss. They both have just come out of painful relationships, and in the end, even though the characters really and truly connect and obviously love each other, they each go back to their past relationships. Hansard’s character goes to London to get back together with his ex-girlfriend who cheated on him. And Irglova’s character moves back in with her estranged husband. To me, this is reality. There are no fairy tales. People stay in unhealthy relationships, and for so many reasons. They think they can’t do any better, or they stay together for “the sake of the children,” or because it’s familiar, or because they simply don’t want to be alone.
Once stars The Frames’ Glen Hansard and Czech musician Marketa Irglova. I am a huge fan of Lay Me Down, a single by The Frames. All the music from the movie was composed and performed by Hansard and Irglova, and it’s beautiful modern rock music. It’s the kind of music that you feel like you could fall into and swim around in. There are pretty acoustic guitars and lovely piano melodies. The lyrics are honest and chronicle the pain of unhealthy relationships, being hurt, losing love and wanting love. Some of the songs do sound a bit like the Coldplay style of ballad, but it’s so much more passionate and evocative. (You can listen to the whole soundtrack free at www.foxsearchlight.com/once/) And Hansard performs some amazing vocal feats of octave jumps that sound almost operatic. The songs are brimming with emotions. I just can’t say enough good things about the music.
It was really interesting to see a movie where the main actors are not really actors at all, but musicians. The film was made on a teensy, tiny budget of $150,000, and the street scenes in Dublin were shot without permits and with a long camera lens. The film wasn’t overacted, and certainly not over-produced. At times it felt like you were watching someone’s home movies, and it was very refreshing compared to the summer blockbusters. I felt like I was watching something that was really happening; a real week in real people’s lives.
So what I found unrealistic about the film is mostly the way the characters meet. Hansard’s character works for his father fixing vacuum cleaners, and also plays his guitar on the street at a busy Dublin shopping area. Irglova’s character, who is a cleaning lady who also sells flowers on the street to support her young daugher, just approaches him one evening while he is playing and she starts asking him questions about his music and himself. This seems very dangerous to me as a girl who grew up in New York city. You don’t walk up to the street musicians, you don’t make eye contact with them, and you certainly don’t start talking to them. But maybe that’s why I don’t have a cute Irish boyfriend. Maybe not.
What I found very realistic about the movie is that the characters do not get together in a romantic way. They don’t even kiss. They both have just come out of painful relationships, and in the end, even though the characters really and truly connect and obviously love each other, they each go back to their past relationships. Hansard’s character goes to London to get back together with his ex-girlfriend who cheated on him. And Irglova’s character moves back in with her estranged husband. To me, this is reality. There are no fairy tales. People stay in unhealthy relationships, and for so many reasons. They think they can’t do any better, or they stay together for “the sake of the children,” or because it’s familiar, or because they simply don’t want to be alone.
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