Has anybody watched this? I absolutely loved it, one of my top films of 2007. Haven't met anyone who's watched it yet, might as well give it a shot here.
Is it a musical or a film about music? It's sitting at home right now, but the wife and I haven't watched it yet.
We both loved it. Almost turned it off, but were hooked after the piano scene where they first collaborate. What's interesting is that they fell in love while filming and now make music together.
They put out an album together a few years ago, I think. The Frames (his band) are big in Czech, so they've spent a lot of time there over the years. Irglova is just one of the musicians they met and jammed with a few years ago. Not sure about the falling in love part, but it also sounds apochryphal.
They knew each other for quite some time. Marketa is the daughter of a musician who is friends with Hansard. Hansard recommended her to Carney at a point where he was still only supposed to provide and create the music for the film. Later Carney asked him to star. Originally, he wanted Cillian Murphy. Then he decided it would work better with the guy who actually made the music. I know a lot of little cool things about the film. Saw a screening with a Carney interview and a Hansard-Irglova performance. And they are, supposedly, an item.
Over the past couple of days, Once has been caught in an Oscar season controversy. One of its songs, Falling Slowly, aka: the One in the Piano Store, was nominated for Best Original Song. However, it was investigated to see if it was eligible over the past couple of days. Some of the songs appear on various Hansard projects, including with Irglova on The Swell Season that pre-date the film. The music categories have already been mired in controversy this year, with Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood's There Will Be Blood score ruled ineligible, and three songs from freakin' Enchanted nominated, without a single Eddie Vedder track from Into the Wild. SO with that in mind, they decided not to undo the one good thing they hadn't screwed up and keep Falling Slowly in the running. http://carpetbagger.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/once-again-a-legit-nominee/?ref=movies
Another Enchanted song would probably be put in if it was D/Q'd. I was hoping that happened so people would bash the stupidity out of these morons' heads. So many films were robbed, I don't even watch em anymore. Glad to see Once getting some recognition though.
It's an enjoyable movie with a good soundtrack, and while it is nice to see a movie based locally, I just can't get the idea of Outspan Foster from The Commitments out of my head when watching it.