Once upon a time..

You can see a lot of happy faces when a movie has a happy ending. And the expressions more or less look the same. This makes the audience look the same, as if everyone’s from the same family. Scary Brady Bunch shit, I say. It’s not that I hate happy endings. But quite simply put, I’m tired of the conventional, predictable ones. Movies need to be more than that. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to find differences between a movie and nice meal in Old Delhi, ...well, anyways, like I was saying, a movie is not supposed to just make you happy, and it definitely should stop trying to do so with some lame ass ending where it defies logic, chemistry, and at times even physics (don’t believe me, huh? Go see “Wanted” or “G.I. Joe – Rise of the Cobra”...where apparently, ice sinks). Even worse are the romantic comedies that pop out of Hollywood like shit pellets pop out from a goat’s arse.

People have tried to help me out by telling me things like leave your brain outside with the pack of cigarettes when you watch this one, or use the lameness of the lead guy to point out to your date what a unique find you are, although you are broke, ugly, and have no knowledge of kick-boxing. Tried. Yes, both. Nope. Doesn’t work. Come to think of it, maybe I shouldn’t have tried both at the same time. But then again, when you least expect it, a movie is made by some obscure genius and it hits you big time, in an interesting way. I watched this Dublin based movie called Once by John Carney. Had never heard of him. Will keep an eye out for his work from now on. A masterpiece in Irish Cinema, this one was shot in well under two weeks and with just one handy cam, with a one hundred grand budget. A simple and realistic story, full of quirky genuine moments and real people, backed up by one of the best acoustic guitar playlists consisting only of original compositions. The story is nothing more than a week in the lives to two strangers who happen to hang out together sharing their music with each other. And the romance portrayed between them is magical yet so believable... After the movie ended, I felt the movie did not give the viewers what they wanted, but what they needed. Call me corny, but that’s that.

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, who play the leads, are not professional actors, but musicians. In fact, the only other time you’d have seen Mr.Hansard would have been in another Irish gem called The Commitments where he plays a bassist in the most hardworking band in the world. He also fronts the band The Frames, one of the many brilliant, but brilliantly obscured bands in the Irish indie music scene. And when Marketa Irglova mentioned in her Oscar Speech, that this movie was an attempt by a handful of individuals to make these talented but unsigned musicians get a bigger audience, I almost felt like giving her a hug. The fact that she is a hot East European, same age as I am, who sings like an angel and plays anything and everything on the piano from Mendelssohn to Bob Dylan had nothing to do with it. Yes, this duo won an Oscar for the Best Original Song in a Movie in 2007 for the duet Falling Slowly. Listen to it, and you’ll know why.

Do not miss this one my dear friends, downloaders and countrymen. A movie such as this, totally stripped off of the Hollywood formulae, big names, bigger budgets, single-handedly manages to prove that less is more.