Wow. Okay. Y'all know that movie Once? The Irish musical from earlier this year? Yeah, I know you know what I'm talking about. Well I just watched it. It was this or Rob Zombie's Halloween and... I'm not up for that yet. Need to down a quart of Pepto Bismal first before tackling Mr. Zombie's See A Classic Horror Film Get Gang-Banged And Left For Dead.Anyway, I couldn't have been less enthusiastic going into Once. I know, everybody and their mother raved about it earlier this year. But... well, you know me and musicals. Not an especially loving relationship between me and the genre.
And then Glen Hansard started singing.
And an hour and a half later, cue me, tears streaming down my cheeks, running to my computer to download the soundtrack.
Flipping wonderful. I don't wanna get all corny and shit, saying some poster-blurb nonsense about how it "cuts straight through the artifice to capture something real and lovely and true" but, well, yeah. Basically.
So... I eat the crow. Y'all were so wonderfully right on this one. Shame on me for holding out so long. And now I have to go lay down with my headphones and listen to "Falling Slowly" on repeat for awhile. And probably cry some more. Cheers!
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16 comments:
My reaction to the film: Very good. That's it.
My reaction to your reaction: You get very randomly paradoxical, ya know that? And that's why I love this place!
I'm guessing by "paradoxical" you mean "bat-shit insane", right? That I can cry like a baby from a movie like this and the next minute cackle like a maniac at a good bloodletting?
Well, I just consider myself a rich tapestry. ;-)
My reaction to the movie: Meh.
My reaction to your reaction: Disappointed.
I was also surprised by the movie and had the same reaction you did...simple, beautiful and touching.
It's a wonderful movie -- glad to have you on board, sir.
DRINK THE KOOL-AID!
I hated this movie. The singing was all right, if at times too plaintive -- but the movie part? Meh. Only times 1000.
I felt that there was no connection or passion between the mildly retarded Czech girl and the Irish tenor. I hated the scene where the MRC walked through Dublin in panda slippers. I was mildly energized at the scene in the recording studio, but then was confused when the film seemed to once again want me to believe that this was a couple that was in love.
The film wasn't sly enough to be manipulative, and not interesting enough to slobber over -- in my opinion at least.
I tell ya. That Czech woman was one of the unintentionally stupid characters I've come across in a long time in a movie. I mean, honestly. A vacuum cleaner? Through Dublin? Panda slippers? And - worst of all - HE DOESN'T WANT YOU TO RIDE THE MOTORCYCLE! Ugh. What a dumb shit.
Having said that, I didn't hate the movie like Mike. I just thought it was so unremarkable.
Mike, they weren't really in love. They were in love with what they were bringing out of each other, but they loved other people. They liked each other quite a bit, but I don't think the film was ever trying to present them as being in love. They both seemed entirely aware and intelligent of the fact that they didn't know each other all that well. That's what I found so lovely about the film - that these weren't people willing to toss themselves into romantic abandon and forget their real world lives - that they understood that, while jumping on each other might feel good for a moment, it would probably just end up being too complicated and that they didn't fit in that way. But for a couple of beautiful days they were able to give the other exactly what they needed, and well, make beautiful music together.
I did chuckle at your mildly retarded comment, but keep in mind the character and the actress were both 17 years old when they filmed this. She was just young. And I think it's missing a lot to call her simple. But that was my take. ;-)
"Through Dublin? Panda slippers?"
For batteries.
And just where the hell were these batteries, anyway? She was walking for, what? An hour? (That song was an awful song and stretched time into some sort of tesseract.)
"They were in love with what they were bringing out of each other, but they loved other people."
But weren't the other people supposedly awful? It's been several months since I've seen this movie (and yet still no sweet relief from its treacliness), but his girlfriend cheated on him and went to London, right? Or Liverpool? Or some L place in England where she could be unsupportive from afar?
And the Czech girl: wasn't the father of her baby also pretty much not good for her either? This is what led me to think that the filmmaker(s) were trying to put the Irish lad and the Czech girl together.
But I can also admit to being pretty heavily entrenched in hating this movie -- so it will be difficult for me to all of a sudden love it. I think you might have seen the movie more clearly than I did; I'm just going to assume that you've seen what the director wants and I missed the boat.
But as far as the Retarded Czech girl -- having watched that little Irish scamp with the ridiculous name I can't spell nor really pronouce in Atonement (I've taken to calling her Sirhan Sirhan) act circles around Keira Knightley -- and she's, what? 12? -- I find that defense of the movie harder to take than the other.
She is one very bad actress.
Man y'all are being hard on the poor girl. Well I thought she was lovely. Here's a quote from Ebert's recent review that I totally agree with:
"She has the kind of smile that makes a man want to be a better person, so he can deserve being smiled at."
As for the girl in Atonement, well I thought she was fine, but these characters couldn't be more different, so their approaches have to be different. Obviously your mileage may vary on how charmed you are by Irglova in Once - OBVIOUSLY - but I thought she was wonderful. And I want some goddamned Panda slippers!
Also, the characters spoke of how wronged they were by their girlfriend and husband, but it was just where they were at that moment - still stewing in their loneliness and feeling wronged-upon... it took their new singing partner to wake them up out of their respective funks and realize that sure, that person may have made mistakes, but they still really loved them and being with them was the best thing for both of them. There was an entire sequence devoted to Hansard singing a love song over footage of his estranged girlfriend which I thought showed that he still really loved her, even if he was hurting.
"She is one very bad actress."
She's not an actress, though. She's a singer, she and Hansard both. And given that I think they both do remarkably well. Just in the way their performances come alive when they're singing -- on the one hand, sure, it's the film dealing with the limitations of its non-professional actors, but it also works exactly the way the film needs it to.
As for Saoirse Ronan, she's fine and all, but we already have one Cameron Bright freaking us the hell out with his demonic, prepossessed seriousness, and I don't much need another one.
IT'S "SEERSHA", BITCH.
Yeah, I know Dublin and I can vouch that you are never, ever THAT far away from batteries.
you said, that young irish girl with ''a ridiculous name you couldn't pronounce'', I would have to say, that shows you have a massive lack of education and manners. The name is not ridiculous, its a traditional Irish name, and if you ever decide to leave your comfort zone of anglicised names, you might just realise, that its you who is ridiculous. If you can't pronounce a name, make it your business to know it, or like this instance your stupidity will prevail. Could you not have googled it. I think that is the most outragiously ridiculous thing to say about anyones name. Mike Bevel isn't the most common name in the world, and doesn't just roll of the tongue. Are you illiterate, people learn to read and write in school to not just learn the current language but to also have an ability to understand new word structures, Idiot.
you said, that young irish girl with ''a ridiculous name you couldn't pronounce'', I would have to say, that shows you have a massive lack of education and manners. The name is not ridiculous, its a traditional Irish name, and if you ever decide to leave your comfort zone of anglicised names, you might just realise, that its you who is ridiculous. If you can't pronounce a name, make it your business to know it, or like this instance your stupidity will prevail. Could you not have googled it. I think that is the most outragiously ridiculous thing to say about anyones name. Mike Bevel isn't the most common name in the world, and doesn't just roll of the tongue. Are you illiterate, people learn to read and write in school to not just learn the current language but to also have an ability to understand new word structures, Idiot.
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