A few years ago we saw Damien Rice at Convocation Hall, touring on “O“, as much an act of pure genius as anything I’d heard ’til then. Like many others, I’d been captivated by The Blower’s Daughter, and the opening lyric of that song, “And so it is …”, never failed to make me weak at the knees. I spent the entire evening waiting for that lyric, and when it finally came in the final encore, Rice gave it to Glen Hansard of The Frames, who had opened the show. Maybe it didn’t mean that to the folks on the stage, but I saw it as an act of perfect generosity, and I was so moved you could have knocked me over with a feather.
That’s exactly how I felt tonight watching Once, which stars Hansard and Markéta Irglová. Generosity is everywhere in this movie. It’s a film of uncommon simplicity, tenderness and beauty, and everything about it reminded me of the way I felt that night a few years ago. If you like music, you will love this movie.
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I loved the movie. I bought a few Frame cds also. I like his music. Saw him live on the uws in manhattan last month. Speechless. Glen unplugged his guitar and walked in front of the mic. The audience was frozen still. one song and everyone was hooked. I hear he is on a vacation now. He’s good.
I’m glad you blogged on this movie. I saw it last May and loved it. Felt out of time with its lack of reference to money and technology. Just a lot of simple, direct music and people being nice to each other. Fresh air.
Yes, exactly. A simple life.
Yeah, I was absolutely floored by Once – the scene where they are playing “Your Mind is Made Up” in the studio is stunning and the ending was so… I dunno – brilliantly ambiguous?