`Once` - Irish movie

Richard Dower

Just watched this on RTE 2, i thiught it was really good, low key and simplistic, but it had a good heart and rather endearing. Great music as well, yer man and Marketa are very talented.

It's nice to see an Irish movie like this, wonder who well it did at the box office?

8.1/10 on IMDB with tons of votes....that's a damn good rating!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0907657/

meoklmrk91

It was highly acclaimed, it won an oscar....

phasers

It won an Oscar for the song "Falling Slowly"

It didn't do very well on first relaease but after the Oscar buzz it got a second run IIRC

MagicMarker

Meh film, good music.

Richard Dower

Yeah, just reading up about it now.

seanybiker

Twas alright. Nothing major in my opinion. skanger near the start was funny though.

pacman.podge

awhh i love this film... well the music mostely!! good ould glen hansard:cool:

Richard Dower

Marketa is soo cute!, lol....i didn't even catch on the two main characters had no names!

pablomakaveli

I saw it a few months ago and liked it which surprised me. Before i saw it i always thought the song that won the Oscar was from an American film, i had no idea it was Irish made.

The bit where the father brings in a tray of tea and biscuits while they are rehearsing with the other musicians made me laugh. Its such an Irish thing to do.

dlofnep

saw it a year or two again, it was brilliant. A real gem.

Bit if trivia - Glen Hansard was in The Commitments.

seanybiker

dlofnep wrote: »

saw it a year or two again, it was brilliant. A real gem.

Go way you boy ya wouldnt have a clue lol.

dlofnep

seanybiker wrote: »

Go way you boy ya wouldnt have a clue lol.

LOL - And when do you ever leave the pub to watch a movie! I have great taste!

Ghost Train

I liked it, but need to be in soppy mood for it I think

MagicMarker

dlofnep wrote: »

saw it a year or two again, it was brilliant. A real gem.

Bit if trivia - Glen Hansard was in The Commitments.

You don't say!!

Bit of trivia, Colm Meany was in the commitments.

seanybiker

dlofnep wrote: »

LOL - And when do you ever leave the pub to watch a movie! I have great taste!

i know ya have great taste, sure havent ya the best friends ever lol.


I downloaded it a year or two ago, after closing time so pooop. I didnt love the film but I probably would watch it again.

dlofnep

MagicMarker wrote: »

You don't say!!

Bit of trivia, Colm Meany was in the commitments.

Go away, no??? :eek:

Hank_Jones

Richard Dower wrote: »

yer man and Marketa are very talented

Could you please never refer to Glen Hansard as ''yer man''.

I would think that he has done enough in his career for you to know who he is.

He was Derek ''Outspan'' Foster in The Commitments, please, never again.

Reginald P. DuM

My first time watching Once tonight now and I enjoyed it. Nice postive film. Really liked the scene in the music store where Glen H and his Czech girl were first playing the hit song together. Giving us an idea of how these songs are crafted. It's quite a skill.. Well done to all involved, an Oscar is a mighty achievement.

hedgeh0g

Is he still seeing that lass? I heard they broke up.

johnny_ultimate

The movie won me over when I saw it in the cinema. Thought it was a pleasantly down to earth romance, one which bypassed the usual romance cliches for two anonymous yet lively and deep central characters. You like these two people and want them to be happy, and luckily the film has a slightly different slant on the usual happy ending. Leaves quite a bit to the imagination, and yet the guy and girl get a fitting ellipsis to their respective stories.

My interest in revisiting the film has drained somewhat after listening to the OST a few times, as I feel a lot of the songs are pretty bland without the story backing them up (Falling Slowly is the strongest by far, and also plays over two of the best scenes in the film - the impromptu Waltons session, and the otherwise silent finale). I would stand by it being a very good film though (within the restrictive bounds of 'feelgood' crowd pleaser), and the fact that I liked it despite the presence of Glen Hansard was a shock at the time!

Naos

Seen it before and really enjoyed it.

With regards to Glen, I attended a live interview with him in the RDS a few months ago. He really came across as a lovely chap, interview was supposed to be an hour long but he opened it up to audience questions after about 40 mins, stayed for an hour forty even asking "We can stay longer if people want to hear more?".

Played a few tunes, excellent job. Made me like the film all the more.

KeRbDoG

MagicMarker wrote: »

You don't say!!

Bit of trivia, Colm Meany was in the commitments.

Another bit of trivia, Andrea Corr was in the Commitments too

ToniTuddle

seanybiker wrote: »

Twas alright. Nothing major in my opinion. skanger near the start was funny though.

Check out the "skanger" in the Irish film entitled-Crash.
Excellent actor so he is.

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

My interest in revisiting the film has drained somewhat after listening to the OST a few times, as I feel a lot of the songs are pretty bland without the story backing them up

Have to disagree with you there I'm afraid. The song Gold and Lies are simply excellent.

In fairness I was going to love the film no matter what, as I do adore The Frames and Glen himself. Seen him on his own and with the band on several occasions.

I do believe if I had never know about him, I still would have loved this film. I can relate to it on various different levels!
I love the fact

they never get together

. *
They will always have that special time together imprinted in their memories.


*Just in case folks still haven't seen it yet/missed it tonight

el diablo

kerbdog wrote: »

Another bit of trivia, Andrea Corr was in the Commitments too

No way.

seanybiker

ToniTuddle wrote: »

Check out the "skanger" in the Irish film entitled-Crash.
Excellent actor so he is.

I'll give it a gander so.

ToniTuddle

seanybiker wrote: »

I'll give it a gander so.

I'll PM..well visitor message ya now about it!

seanybiker

ToniTuddle wrote: »

I'll PM..well visitor message ya now about it!

who said what to who now?

Watched it recently once all the hype had died down and wasn't that impressed with it. I thought that the cast were okay but overall it was just a rather bland love story with no really redeeming factors. I had heard the OST before hand and was not impressed by it so perhaps that had a bearing on my enjoyment of the film. The film also looks and feels very cheap which really took me out of it at times as the story just wasn't good enough to let you overlook this.

Nolanger

When this movie came out no-one went to see it. Only when the Yanks raved about it did it become popular here!

JohnnyChimpo

Nolanger wrote: »

When this movie came out no-one went to see it. Only when the Yanks raved about it did it become popular here!

Not true at all. As far as I remember it did a good deal better than your average irish production. Not exactly huge box-office either way, but there was still a good bit of buzz around it.

Incidentally, I strongly recommend anyone who sorta-kinda-half-liked the tunes from Once to check out the new Swell Season (AKA Glen and Marketa) album "Strict Joy". for my money, it's one of the albums of 2009, combining the Once stuff and the Frames stuff with hints of "Astral Weeks"-era Van Morrison, Arcade Fire, Death Cab, Regina Spektor. Definitely a solid album, feels much more like a genuine musical group than a film side-project


P.S. for the trivia fans here - apparently large parts of the Commitments were filmed on location in Dublin!

punkindrublic

Wasn't impressed by it at all. I thought it was rather boring. Wonder why it was hyped up so much..

S.M.B.

Because it's a very very good film.

ToniTuddle

punkindrublic wrote: »

Wasn't impressed by it at all. I thought it was rather boring. Wonder why it was hyped up so much..

I never heard any of the hype at all.
Never knew it was in the cinema either.
Only found out about it because a mate said they liked this film with a dude called Glen Hansard in it.

Due to me being a fan I had to check it out!

me-skywalker

BS I know a loads who went to see it!
Also the guy who said it looked cheap?? haha do you know anything about film? it WAS cheap.. it was a low-budget indie film.

Also for the people who think it was bland love-story, well im sorry that not all love story's are epic romeo and juliet stories... or wunderlust adventures as hollywood would make you believe.

back to reality people please.

As for the film I really enjoyed it myself the muted tone was much in-tune with how people live their day to day lives and the raw feelings within people that we just pass by on the streets.

Each person has their own unique story that we'll never know and finding a spark with someone in a city full of people can be hard and magical at times.

Musical I think its really sweet and some great tunes. Was a Frames listener and have been around in circles with Glen and he is that genuine kind of guy so he fitted the character perfect as he made it believable and not just well-acted.

me-skywalker

me-skywalker wrote: »

Also the guy who said it looked cheap?? haha do you know anything about film? it WAS cheap.. it was a low-budget indie film.

Just because a film has a low budget does not mean that it has to look cheap, in fact by Irish standards Once had a relatively healthy 150 grand to spend. I could easily have forgiven the cheap look had the story and acting being stronger.

Take a film like Tadpole, another low budget, it looks amazingly cheap yet the story and performances more than make up for this. Just because a film has a low budget does not mean that we should excuse it if it look cheap.

Here take a look at this, a film which cost even less than Once but looks a million times better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W9WEeTf2Sg

opinion guy

Watched about 5 minutes of this last night before having to change it. Was painful. The acting was wooden and the dialogue attrocious. I flicked back at othe rtime when they were singing and the music just did my head in. Then I discovered collateral was on and I was happy with that since its a great film

S.M.B.

Deleted User wrote: »

Just because a film has a low budget does not mean that it has to look cheap, in fact by Irish standards Once had a relatively healthy 150 grand to spend. I could easily have forgiven the cheap look had the story and acting being stronger.

Take a film like Tadpole, another low budget, it looks amazingly cheap yet the story and performances more than make up for this. Just because a film has a low budget does not mean that we should excuse it if it look cheap.

Here take a look at this, a film which cost even less than Once but looks a million times better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W9WEeTf2Sg

Still don't see how it looks cheap?

Natural? Yes. Cheap? No.

S.M.B.

S.M.B. wrote: »

Still don't see how it looks cheap?

Natural? Yes. Cheap? No.

Natural, it looks like a student film. The film is visually bland which only helps to further hammer home how cheap it looks. Was the story and performances stronger then you could overlook this but at the end of the day Once is a very average film which would have been forgotten about had the Americans not became so enamored with it.

Has anyone seen Carney's new film Zonad? Saw it last summer and quite enjoyed it. Certainly a step up from Once and it bodes well for his future.

worded

Deleted User wrote: »

Natural, it looks like a student film. The film is visually bland which only helps to further hammer home how cheap it looks. Was the story and performances stronger then you could overlook this but at the end of the day Once is a very average film which would have been forgotten about had the Americans not became so enamored with it.

Has anyone seen Carney's new film Zonad? Saw it last summer and quite enjoyed it. Certainly a step up from Once and it bodes well for his future.

Its wasnt a big production but I thought it was great, student like or not. Pete who used to sell the in dubin outside Bewleys sang a few lines. It was very entertaining.

Richard Dower

I thought Once was truely wonderful, still in my head this morning....i bet OST and DVD sales for it will shoot up!

I'm wondering, was the script written BEFORE Glen and Marketa joined the movie?...because life seems to imitate art/film it seems. She had a major crcush on him for years, he was falling in love with her...they got together in real life.

The script and everything that happened afterward seems all too real.

worded

Richard Dower wrote: »

I thought Once was truely wonderful, still in my head this morning....i bet OST and DVD sales for it will shoot up!

I'm wondering, was the script written BEFORE Glen and Marketa joined the movie?...because life seems to imitate art/film it seems. She had a major crcush on him for years, he was falling in love with her...they got together in real life.

The script and everything that happened afterward seems all too real.

Do you remember in the film he asked how do you say do you love him?

How do you say in Czech do you love him?

She said in Czech

"Miluju teba" That means, Its you I love

ArmaniJeanss

I really wanted to hate Once - I wanted to watch The Royle Family but I got outvoted, so I begrudglingly sat there watching some musical I'd never heard of it and which was probably only being shown because of its Irishness, not because of any inherent quality. Ready to nitpick everything.

Despite all my negative aforethoughts it quickly won me over - a super 85 minutes entertainment, barely a bad scene in the whole thing.
Kudos to all involved.

lostexpectation

whats up with zonad?

Jax Teller

Taught it was great . Like the scene were they go the recording studio and your man thinks there a bunch of oddballs then he gets blown away by the music

Richard Dower

My fave scene was the music store scene, teaching her the song....he's got a wonderful voice, it actually felt like a documentary....as in it was filming a few days in the life of a normal persons life.

By all accounts reading interviews and such it seems both Glen and Marketa have no desire to make more movies or a sequel, as such "Once" is a very worthy title. They said in interviews they can look back in 10 years and see how it caputred that moment in their lives.

Wiki has alot of info about the movie, and the various interviews are quite revealing. She was 17 at the time of making it, at school in Czech, came over in Jan. 2006 to film for 17 days. From the interviews it seems they didn't get together until afer her 18th, but i guess in the end the age difference was a factor for them deciding to be friends...ergo, life imitates film. It's got a whopping 97% on RT with over 150 reviews....that's stellar stuff!

Basq

My feelings on the film hasn't changed since this!

Loved it.

Richard Dower

Richard Dower wrote: »

I thought Once was truely wonderful, still in my head this morning....i bet OST and DVD sales for it will shoot up!

I'm wondering, was the script written BEFORE Glen and Marketa joined the movie?...because life seems to imitate art/film it seems. She had a major crcush on him for years, he was falling in love with her...they got together in real life.

The script and everything that happened afterward seems all too real.

The script was written before Hansard was cast, initially Cillian Murphy was cast but he left early on in production.

lostexpectation

lostexpectation wrote: »

whats up with zonad?

I thought it would have been released by now. It was shown a few times at festivals during the summer and is quite good even if it is quite short at under 80 minutes.

S.M.B.

Richard Dower wrote: »

It's got a whopping 97% on RT with over 150 reviews....that's stellar stuff!

100% when only Top Critics are counted.

me-skywalker

Richard Dower wrote: »

I thought Once was truely wonderful, still in my head this morning....i bet OST and DVD sales for it will shoot up!

I'm wondering, was the script written BEFORE Glen and Marketa joined the movie?...because life seems to imitate art/film it seems. She had a major crcush on him for years, he was falling in love with her...they got together in real life.

The script and everything that happened afterward seems all too real.

No the script was more biographical of the writer/director John Carney. Glen first met Marketa through her father when she was 12/13. He is great friends with her father and when touring with The Frames they done a festival in their village in the Czech Republic and Glen stayed over in there place and first met her there when she would sing and play piano during signalongs and sessions.

Glen was asked to write the music for the film which he said yes to and John wanted a woman in her late 30's but Glen propsed that he use Marketa so he met her and John agreed that he should be her. SO she was cast first... Then when Cillian MUrphy pulled out of the film 10days prior to filming they were stuck so John asked Glen who reluctantly agreed.

incidentally John Carney used to be in The Frames... I wouldnt be surprised if furing the course of filming Glen had some say in some of the scenes.

Nolanger

JohnnyChimpo wrote: »

Not true at all. As far as I remember it did a good deal better than your average irish production. Not exactly huge box-office either way, but there was still a good bit of buzz around it.

Did you even go and see it when released first in Irish cinemas? I did and the place was empty. They were even considering releasing future Irish movies in America first so as to generate interest here.