I have to say that I am not a big fan of musicals and I had reservations about the film Once, which was often described as a musical in the press, because of this. But I don’t think that’s an accurate description of the film-it is about musicians-people who care deeply about music-so there’s music in it, but it’s not a musical in the conventional sense. It was a simple and powerful film due to the strong performances by the two lead actors, Glen Hansard, lead singer of The Frames, and Marketa Irglova. It reminded me what a lovely city Dublin is, and what lovely people the Irish are. It is a subtle, understated film that could only be made outside the conventional cinema landscape. I have to credit an acquaintance’s website, Michael Lambe, that featured a snippet from the film for helping me get over the” musical” label and seek it out.
Incidentally I had previously heard good things about The Frames and got their latest, The Cost, a few months back, but haven’t lsitened to it thoroughly enough. It has two of the songs Hansard sings in Once on it: “Falling Slowly” (from the clip) and “When You’re Mind’s Made Up.” That being said I did rate “Falling Slowly” as a favorite song on the starring system on iTunes.
I loathe musicals as well, but I have seen TWO musicals this year that I really liked: Once and, believe it or not, Sweeney Todd, which was a really excellent film.
Posted by: Eric | February 13, 2008 at 11:14 AM
Another friend recommended Sweeney Todd as well, so it's on my list. With Tim Burton it certainly won't be a "Chicago"...
Posted by: MC | February 13, 2008 at 11:54 AM
Karyn and I got through about four minutes of Chicago. Ugh.
Posted by: Eric | February 23, 2008 at 01:38 PM