How often do you find the right person?
A lovely gentle musical film with three main strands of interest: the developing relationship between the two leads; an overview of the music-recording process, from street performing to the professional production of a studio CD; and lastly, an insight into the lives of the kind of people we see in the street selling things and performing.
The film is very naturalistic, with a kind of intimate small story about believable people. John Carney, the director, was a drummer in Glen Hansard's band The Frames, and the musical side of things seems entirely authentic. The leads, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, are musicians and wrote and perform their music themselves. In an interview on the DVD, Carney explained that the story underlying the film was purposefully short and simple. For people with short attention spans, there may be a dearth of action, and too many musical sections, allowed for by the simplicity of storyline. As well as a great amount of music in the film, a notable feature is the diegetic nature of almost all the music.
The arc of the relationship between the two leads and its denouement is very interesting and well done. I was told by a Russian student that when he asks her in Czech if she still loves her husband, and she answers mysteriously in Czech, and won't translate, that what she says is that she loves HIM. I read that in real life, the leads had a romantic relationship, but that it only lasted a couple of years.
The final crane shot, pulling back from the final configuration of characters, with one of them looking out, is very emotional for me, still after several viewings.
- Rating: Exceptional
- When seen: 27 Jan 2011
- Where seen: School
- More information: IMDB | RottenTomatoes | Wikipedia
Amendments: Added actor tag: "Markéta Irglová". Corrected spelling of "diegetic". Removed link to Wikipedia-sourced image. Added ranking image.
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