In Theater - Once

I was told by a friend that this was a nice little movie. A snapshot of a new relationship between two musicians, described as a musical.

Loving the description, I was excited to see it. I was not disappointed. Once is an Irish film about a Hoover-fixing aspiring musician that meets a girl, also a musician but due to life circumstances not using her musical talents, and together they blossom and make some beautiful music. I'm not going to go through the plot of each movie, unless I feel it's necessary. This plot is more about character, interaction, emotion, and situation, so it makes no sense to explain the plot.

Neither of the actors that play the lead characters (in the credits called only "Boy" and "Girl") is a trained actor - they are musicians and wrote all the original music in the film. At times you can tell, but really it's a nicely acted -- one might say it's innocently acted -- film with an independent feel (which was at least partly on purpose - a tidbit I got from the wikipedia entry on the film - which also gives a longer plot summary). The film probably wouldn't have worked any other way. It really makes it feel very intimate, but the direction and interaction between the characters also adds to the intimate feel.

As I said above, it's a modern musical. The music is weaved into the story. For example, after she tells him that she plays piano, he asks to hear her play, and she leads him to a music store where she has gotten to know the owner so she can practice because she cannot afford a piano. (After this song, my movie partner said "That's one of the best songs I have heard in a while.") Or where he asks her to have a go at some lyrics for one of his melodies, and she practices the lyrics while walking, in her pajamas, from the convenient store, where she had to get batteries for her CD player. The film is full of little things that are funny and heart-warming like her walking the night in her PJ's. These are the elements that draw you into the story and the characters.

We both commented after the movie that non-American films seem to be so much better at capturing life - with all the interesting characters, interactions, and just regular life that's been pointed and captured on film -- in the same amount of time that Bruce Willis hides from the bad guys and saves the world. And it's not boring or slow, it is intriguing. This is, of course, a generalization. But it seems something to consider as a broader question. Do American audiences need more stimulation -- or are they uninterested in the subtleties of life and characters? And if so, why?

Anyway, aside from all my other observations, Once is wonderful and quite a delightful film. Definitely worth seeing, if only for the music.

Rated: ****

On DVD - Notes on a Scandal

I did not know the plot of this movie before watching it. I know that may be hard to believe seeing as how it was nominated for all sorts of awards, but I did not have even a bit of a clue.

So, once you accept that, it may be easy to believe that I was a bit surprised at the storyline.

I do realize that this sort of thing happens and a few of these same types of scandals have been in the news recently (although, from the details I have heard, the real scandals sound much less romantic (or whatever it was) than the one in the movie). In fact, I was watching an interesting CourtTV recap of a trial...

Anyway, after I got over it, I found the movie: interesting, well-acted, fairly realistic, disturbing. It's worth watching, but I don't have much to say about it. What does that mean? Judi Dench's character was very disturbing and the most interesting in the movie. Well done. She should have won the Oscar for this -- although I haven't seen any of the other movies, so I suppose I shouldn't make that kind of determination just yet.

*** - probably would get more, but I felt dirty after watching it and I have little to say about it, which has got to mean something.