ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?on NPR

Subject: ONCE - A Movie about 'US'?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 08:52 AM

I just got a chance to see this movie, totled Once and was quite intrigued by it. Here's a link for more details: Click here for a good time!

I found both of the lead characters believable and interesting, and their environment totally convincing. Maybe that's not surprising given that they are both musicians in real life and the filming was done in a real city as opposed to a "set."

I especially loved the recording session, their first experience of this often stressful ritual.

And although the movie doesn't have a classical happy ending, no one is brutalized while life's unanswered questions remain unanswered.

Of course I missed about a third of the dialogue because of my inability to retune my dialect monitors quickly enough.

I'm puzzled how this movie got a "R" rating but maybe I missed a "F" word or two in the dialogue.

No doubt this movie will only be in your location for about a week if at all. If you see it advertised, consider going.

Roll & Go is now considering producing our own sea music video!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: ONCE - A Movie about 'US'?
From: Gulliver
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 01:16 PM

I really enjoyed it--reminded me of the kind of things we got up to in my youth (I too busked nearby on Grafton Street).

Don

Subject: RE: ONCE - A Movie about 'US'?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 08:55 AM

Refresh!

Subject: Anyone seen the movie/musical 'Once?'
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 01:07 AM

We are going to see the Irish movie/musical, "Once" this weekend. I think they use the term "musical" loosely. Just wondering if any of you have seen it. Here's the write-up, plus a link for a trailer for it.

The Irish romance ONCE may be a musical, but it is miles away from the traditional Hollywood idea of people bursting into song. Glen Hansard (frontman for the Frames) plays the guy, a street musician who is playing for change when he meets the girl, an immigrant from the Czech Republic. The pair immediately bond over their shared love of music (he is a guitarist, she plays the piano) and the film chronicles their tentative relationship. Both are weighed down by plenty of baggage: his songs are fueled by a painful breakup, and she is a young mother who left her husband behind in her native country.

Like the independent favorite BEFORE SUNRISE, ONCE is a simple, sweet drama that doesn't rely on an elaborate plot. With its use of digital video and handheld cameras, ONCE matches its spare visual style to its intimate mood. Each moment feels stolen from real life, and the story is at once familiar and fresh. Driven more by music than by dialogue, ONCE features a stirring soundtrack of heartfelt rock sung by Hansard and Irglova. Before his foray into film, director John Carney played bass in the Frames and his passion for music is clear in this modern musical that hits every note perfectly.

Subject: RE: Anyone seen the movie/musical 'Once?'
From: Charley Noble
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 08:57 AM

I did and enjoyed it. I initiated a thread about a month ago and maybe it could be combined with this one.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: ONCE - A Movie about 'US'?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 08:58 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: ONCE - A Movie about 'US'?
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 11:32 AM

Thanks, Charley. Sorry about the other thread!

Can't wait to see Roll and Go's movie, too!

---

Threads combined. -Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: ONCE - A Movie about 'US'?
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 05:33 PM

Thanks, Joe.

We saw it this afternoon. What a lovely movie! The music was beautiful, but a little repetitious but that did not detract at all. (I've now got an ear worm from the song they did the most, which is a good thing as it is a beautiful song.) As Charley said, it was really enhanced by the two lead actors being musicians in the 3D world AND it being shot on location. It had such a real feel to it and it was really quite understated for being such a gem. I'd highly recommend it.

It may not sound like such a striking movie when I say it didn't seem overly ambitious ( a GOOD thing!)and was so very, very nice, but those are high compliments imo in this context.

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: DougR
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 06:09 PM

Does the movie, by chance, have sub-titles?

DougR

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: SingsIrish Songs
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 08:08 PM

Good to hear these reviews.

I soooo want to see this film but haven't been able to arrange my schedule to do so though....in my "town" it's playing at an "arts" cinema...just hope it stays around long enough for me to get there.

Mary

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 10:35 PM

No, it doesn't, DougR, and I would have found them helpful in a couple of scenes, esp. at the very beginning, but the one-to-one dialogue between the main characters and the songs were not a problem, at all. It really is worth seeing.

Mary, hope you get to see it. It is so lovely.

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: DougR
Date: 05 Aug 07 - 06:04 PM

kat: I'll see it at first opportunity. I do have a problem, from time to time, understanding Scot and Irish dialogue on film (Cockney too of course).

DougR

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Aug 07 - 06:24 PM

Glad to hear that, DougR.I hope you like it.

I am usually pretty good with accents, but as I said, at the beginning it was pretty thick, a street scene between the busker and a drunk...about the only word I caught with real clarity was f'ckin'!*bg*

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: GUEST,michaelr
Date: 06 Aug 07 - 03:28 PM

A sweet little film.

Subject: Review: Once (the 'musical')
From: black walnut
Date: 30 Dec 07 - 04:05 PM

ONCE (2006)

Plot Outline: A modern-day "musical" about a busker and an immigrant and their eventful week, as they write, rehearse and record songs...

~~~~~~~~~

My daughter recommended this to us and she has good taste in movies, so we watched it last night. This is a great film - not like the typical love story sugar cookies.   The music and music-making are worthy and the story revolves around it. In fact, between them, the 2 main characters Glen Hasard and Marketa Irglova actually wrote and performed almost every song in the film. Set in Dublin, on Grafton St., the Guy and Girl are given no names. Guy busks his songs with guitar, and Girl plays piano. The film is worth watching just for the studio session alone!

Filmed in Ireland for $160,000. I think this one deserves a standing ovation.

~b.w.

Subject: RE: Review: Once (the 'musical')
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 30 Dec 07 - 04:41 PM

Available in DVD. The soundtrack is available on cd.
One to keep!

Subject: RE: Review: Once (the 'musical')
From: open mike
Date: 31 Dec 07 - 01:12 AM

sounds like a winner!

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 31 Dec 07 - 04:50 PM

It's a very interesting film.

Third thread transferred here as well---Fat Clone

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: black walnut
Date: 01 Jan 08 - 11:03 AM

Thanks for melting the threads. Is Lyrics and Knowledge Search case sensitive? I'd searched for "once" but not in all caps.

As for not understanding every word or phrase...we watched the dialogue extras and it wasn't important to them to have it all understood - they were after the mood and the visuals.

Some people have called this a 'nice' film. I think it's a bit deeper than that. "She"'s holding it all inside. "He"'s only able to get it out in songs. There is attraction, but no satisfaction. I think that a 'nice' film would have found a way for them to get together. I prefer this kind of film.

~b.w.

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: Stewart
Date: 01 Jan 08 - 12:37 PM

I watched it for the second time on DVD last night and enjoyed it even more. Very beautiful and believable. I've been in Dublin once, and could feel myself there again. And the musicians were real as were the scenes. Also enjoyed the extras on DVD where the two main actors discussed the songs and how they fit into the film. I understood much more the second time through.

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: Alice
Date: 01 Jan 08 - 12:54 PM

My son gave me the DVD for my birthday. Have not watched the extras, thanks for reminding me that they are on the DVD!
The Commitments is one of my top favorite movies, and Once has joined the list of my faves.

Alice

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: black walnut
Date: 02 Jan 08 - 04:36 PM

Ya...the extras are really worth watching on this DVD.

~b.w.

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: Seán Báite
Date: 02 Jan 08 - 05:27 PM

Haven't seen the filum (as we say in Dublin) might try to track it down here in the depths of France. Glen Hansard is a fairly well established musical performer in Dublin with a career going back 15 years or so.
It's not his first appearance on celluloid, of course - as he was the ginger-haired guitarist in Alan Parker's adaptation of Roddy Doyle's novel 'The Committments' from the early 90s.
Apparently he doesn't like to be reminded of this fact, though - I think he lived to regret having accepted the part.

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: michaelr
Date: 02 Jan 08 - 07:07 PM

Glenn and Marketa are touring with the songs from the movie.

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: black walnut
Date: 03 Jan 08 - 09:51 AM

Really? Where? Anything 'overseas' (e.g.Canada)?
~b.w.

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: black walnut
Date: 03 Jan 08 - 09:55 AM

Alright...I found this list of tour dates but is it for 2007 or 2008?
~b.w.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tour Dates for Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova as "The Swell Season" & from the motion picture ONCE

11/4 TV Taping for Artist Den (Again, click here to find out how to attend.)
11/5 SEATTLE, WA The Moore*
11/6 PORTLAND, OR Crystal Ballroom*
11/8 SAN FRANCISCO, CA Grand Ballroom*
11/9 SAN FRANCISCO, CA Grande Ballroom*
11/10 LOS ANGELES, CA Wiltern*
11/11 SAN DIEGO, CA 4th and B*
11/13 DENVER, CO The Odgen*
11/15 AUSTIN, TX Stubbs*
11/17 ATLANTA, GA The Variety Playhouse*
11/18 WASHINGTON DC Lincoln Theatre*
11/19 NEW YORK, NY Beacon*
11/21 BOSTON, MA The Orpheum*
11/22 MONTREAL, QC Le National
11/23 TORONTO, ON Danforth Music Hall**
11/24 CHICAGO, IL The Vic*
11/25 CHICAGO, IL The Vic*
*w/Martha Wainwright
** w/Mary Margaret O'Hara

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: black walnut
Date: 03 Jan 08 - 09:59 AM

I'll SADLY answer my own question. I searched the Danforth Music Hall archives, and they performed 11/23 2007. RATS and DOUBLE RATS!!

~b.w.

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: michaelr
Date: 03 Jan 08 - 05:28 PM

Sorry about that, bw. Didn't mean to tease...

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: black walnut
Date: 03 Jan 08 - 09:04 PM

michaelr...not to worry. Nothing much I can do about it.   Are they touring presently anywhere though, do you know - or had you made the same mistake as me?

~b.w.

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: michaelr
Date: 04 Jan 08 - 06:55 PM

I don't know. I happened to see the San Francisco show advertised a while ago, but did not remember the date when I posted.

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Feb 08 - 12:58 AM

I was pleased to see the song from this won an Oscar, tonight. Also, the same couple who performed it in the movie did a wonderful job of it, tonight. They were really sweet about accepting the award, speaking of making the movie in three weeks with a couple of hand-held cameras. It's a beautiful song, imo.

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: harpmolly
Date: 25 Feb 08 - 02:08 AM

That really was beautiful. And I loved how Jon Stewart had her come out and give the speech she didn't get to give earlier.

I must rent this film. How did I manage to miss it?

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 25 Feb 08 - 07:46 AM

Yes, it was good that Jon Stewart rescued her--no one should be denied their moment to shine. And the little irony that it was the mistake by the orchestra for the best song nominee just made it seem all the more Dublin to me.

Great little filum.

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 25 Feb 08 - 09:05 AM

Congrats on the Oscar. I rented "Once" from Netflix just over a week ago and haven't sent it back yet ~ watched it with an without commentary, watched all the DBD extras, watched the film again, and will play it at least once more before mailing it back.

I was glad to see Gelnn Hansard on the Oscar stage with that same beat-up old Takamine he plays in the movie, the one with the Willie-Nelson-style hole in the front where a pickguard should have been. What a great sound he gets out it!

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 25 Feb 08 - 12:47 PM

"It's not his first appearance on celluloid, of course - as he was the ginger-haired guitarist in Alan Parker's adaptation of Roddy Doyle's novel 'The Committments' from the early 90s.

Apparently he doesn't like to be reminded of this fact, though - I think he lived to regret having accepted the part."

I wondered why the DVD commentary so conspicuously failed to mention Glen Hansard's previous appearance on the silver screen. In fact, the director spoke several times about how great it was to be working with musicians who had "no acting experience."

Now, I am sure that Glen had no previous film-acting experience before "The Commitments," and probably none since, either ~ but he certainly had some prior experience, and indeed experience that was very relevant to what was required of him for "Once."

His character in "The Commitments" was very young, kind of naive and goofy, and was given the extremely goofy first name "Outspan"; maybe Glenn is a bit embarrassed to have his younger self (and indeed a fictionalized and undoubtedly oversimplified version of his younger self) preserved on film. Wouldn't we all? He might also dislike being too closely associated with that soul-music cover-band when his own original music is decidedly different. Or, maybe he just became deathly sick of being recognized on the street and greeted with shouts of "Hey Outspan!"

Still, that younger self of his made for an extremely likeable character in "The Commitments," and I would wish for his sake that he'll eventually come to terms with the situation and embrace all the good things about his earlier filmmaking experience.

PS: This morning's paper referred to Oscar winners Glen and Mar as "folkies." (I'm not sure if that was written by one of our local writers or if the phrase was used in a national wire-service story.) I thought this might be of interest to those who like to debate the neverending "folk/not-folk" controversy. The music in this film wouldn't meet the traditionalist definitions of "folk," of course, and indeed might fall into the category of "Acoutic Rock" that we've recently been unable to define.

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 25 Feb 08 - 08:42 PM

Anyone notice that the two leads in this movie collected Oscars for their performances? That pretty good for a movie where the production costs did not exceed $100,000.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble, who thought it was a good movie

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 25 Feb 08 - 08:43 PM

Whoops!

At least five other people noticed before I posted.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 25 Feb 08 - 08:48 PM

Actually, I think he may be chagrined about 'The Commitments' due to the lad factor back home.

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 04:01 PM

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: astro
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 04:12 PM

Desert Dancer and I saw this movie a month or so ago, and found it a charming movie. I especially liked the ending. The female lead's action at the end was telling and implied much. The passion of the music was great too.

I enjoyed the director's input about the casting decisions for the film.

Astro

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 12:09 AM

We just rented it on the strength of these recommendations - it's not often we get the chance to watch an actual movie from beginning to end these days, and we tend to pick them with care. This was every bit as good as folks have been saying. Thanks for the tip, Charlie and others!

Dan

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: Declan
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 05:31 AM

For those of you who had difficulty with the early disalogue, the drunk (or more probably a junkie, I think) turned out to be the guitarists brother. Quite a funny scene but some of the humour might have been missed if you didn't get that bit.

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 12:39 PM

I think that one of the film's few mistakes/imperfections was to have used that scene with the incomprehensible dialog be the FIRST speaking that the audience hears. Maybe the director didn't foresee that he'd get such a wide international audience, but then again, the film was entered at Sundance and other North American film festivals, so he should have known that viewers in America and other English-speaking countries would have difficulty understanding a character with not only a decidedly "thick" accent or brogue, but also portraying extreme intoxication by slurring his speech, etc.

A number of the respondants to "viewer reviews" on Netflix complained about difficulty understanding the characters' accents, which shouldn't have been a problem for the main characters (certainly wasn't for me, anyway). I think these folks were alarmed by their inability to make any sense of that first scene's dialog that they immediately turned on the DVD's subtitles without realizing that they wouldn't really neeed them for the rest of the, er, fillum.

The director's commentary with the DVD says "I don't know why people think the heroin addict is The Guy's brother." Well, I know why ~ one of the very few intelligible lines the junky speaks is a question about "how's our Mum?" Or at least that's how it sounds to me...

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: Declan
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 05:11 PM

It was "how's our Ma" - but you got the idea. The next lines are (from memory) -
"She's dead" - "Oh Yea righ'" - "And Our Da"

So why would anyone think he was his brother?

It all made perfect sense to me!

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 May 08 - 01:14 PM

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are being interviewed on Fresh Air on NPR, today. They are talking about how they as the musicians hired to write the music, wound up being cast as the stars. IT's a pretty neat interview. You can read about it HERE. The audio will be available later today. Well worth listening to. Marketa was only 17 when the movie was shot!:-)

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 May 08 - 01:17 PM

They are on a tour of the US as the Swell Season." You may hear more of their songs HERE at myspace.

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 01 May 08 - 01:43 PM

Declan: As well as I could hear, I also thought the guy was saying "our Ma" and "our Da." So of course, I also thought director John Carney was carzy to wonder our loud why anyone would think the the fellows might be brothers.

I suppose he wrote those lines as "your Ma/your Da," and the actor (in his effort to act like a stone-cold-loaded junkie) slurred his speech badly enough to sound like he was talking about "our" parents.

There are a number of things I found disingenuous, if not downright false, in Carney's DVD commentary. In particular, I refuse to go along with the claim that the script was written about a busking Dubliner and a young female Czech immigrant musician without the slightest idea that Glen and Marketa might possibly play the lead roles.

We're supposed to believe that Carney asked them to write the music for the film while auditioning other actors, and was suddenly inspired, much to his own and everyone else's surprise, to cast his musician friends! I mean, how transparent a fabrication are we expected to believe?

My theory is that Carney had to pretend, when approaching his former bandmate Glen Hansard, that all he wanted was a musical score, not an acting performance ~ because of Hansard's reported sensitivity about his experience with The Commitments. Now, I loved the character of Outspan, both as a personality and as a guitar player, and thought Hansard did a terrific job, as an actor and as a musician. But for some reason I wouldn't understand, Hansard has had a problem being associated with that aspect of his past. And, because of his feelings about his only prior movie-acting experience, he was not initially open to the prospect of acting in another film. And there may have been additional issues about accepting direction from Carney, who used to be an "underling" in the Frames, the band of which Hansard is principal songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist.

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?on N
From: Charley Noble
Date: 01 May 08 - 06:20 PM

PoppaGator-

I think I prefer to remain ignorant of the underlying motivations of the director and the acting crew. I enjoyed the film, and probably if I knew everyone better I would enjoy it less, maybe even a lot less.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?on N
From: Gulliver
Date: 01 May 08 - 07:42 PM

Yeah, same here. You can discuss a thing to death...

Subject: RE: ONCE - An Irish Movie/Musical about 'US'?on NPR
From: quokka
Date: 01 May 08 - 11:32 PM

Hi all, I recently wrote a review of this film:

         AND THE OSCAR GOES TO....OUTSPAN!
   
    Glen Hansard, lead singer for Dublin rock band The Frames, has taken out the Oscar for Best Song at this year's Academy Awards for his song 'Falling Slowly' from the surprise hit film 'Once'. Glen's first claim to fame was as the guitarist Outspan Foster in the Commitments. He went on to form the hugely successful band The Frames, and with his Czech partner Marketa Irglova is now the proud recipient of an Oscar! In his acceptance speech Glen told how the film was made:
"This is mad! We made this film two years ago. We shot it on two Handycams, it took us three weeks to make [and] we made it for a hundred grand!" Marketa's contribution was cut short, but for the first time in the history of the Oscars she was allowed back on stage to finish her acceptance speech! The pair also performed the song live in front of the masssive TV audience. The film, directed by John Carney, ex-bass player from The Frames, is well worth seeing and has picked up awards at several film festivals, including the World Cinema Audience Award at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Shot in hand-held documentary style, 'Once' tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a guy and a girl that changes both their lives. The music in the film is outstanding, with the Chicago Tribune critic calling the film "the best musical of a generation".
'Once' is out now on DVD.