Monday, July 30, 2007

A really swell movie


Okay, yeah right, this is a music blog. But I just saw the movie "Once," and it is a beautiful film about music and love. If you have never heard of this movie, then let me give a little synopsis. Basically, two musicians meet while one is busking for money on the streets. From the day they first meet, there is an immediate connection between the two musicians and a musically based relationship ensues.

There is not much dialogue in the film and some of it is in other languages. But you don't need to really know what the characters are saying. The soundtrack and the songs that they sing within the film help push the plot along just fine. Each song helps to convey the relationship that has formed between the musicians. Some of the songs are so haunting that you will get goosebumps at times.

An interesting factoid, in reality the two musicians, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, in this film form the band The Swell Season. The director of the film originally asked them to write songs for the film but then decided he wanted to use them as the actors, which makes the whole story that much more interesting to me. If you know any musicians, then you know that there often is a very intense bond that forms between band members. Even though they may be platonic, the act of creating music together creates a very passionate relationship.



Side note: BTW- did you know that shoegazer bands are back? There was a recent article in the NY Times and long discussion on NPR this weekend regarding its comeback. Honestly, I didn't know that it had ever left, especially since I just saw Mojave 3 at the Cat's Cradle not too long ago.

1 comment:

Karen A. Mann said...

I agree, this was a great movie. As for shoegazers, I wouldn't mind seeing Ride come back.