For a brief, terrible moment in “Sweetness in the Belly,” you fear that icky-cutesy title is about to be spoken out loud. Describing the lilting sensation of new love, a character alludes to “a feeling right here,” as he gently taps his stomach — only for the film to mercifully cut away before he says the words themselves. It’s a decision that encapsulates what’s at once restrained and sincerely cornball about Zeresenay Berhane Mehari’s polite melodrama, adapted from Camilla Gibbs’ 2006 novel about a white Muslim refugee of the Ethiopian Civil War, caught between the opposing cultures of her roots and her upbringing as she resettles in a London council estate. There’s a floridly sentimental heart fluttering beneath its tastefully solemn surface, but at times, you can’t help wishing the film would give in to its more expressive impulses.
If “Sweetness in the Belly” winds up feeling...
If “Sweetness in the Belly” winds up feeling...
- 5/7/2020
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Zeresenay Berhane Mehari directing project. Entertainment One takes Canada rights.
Dakota Fanning has signed up to play the lead in refugee story Sweetness In The Belly for director Zeresenay Berhane Mehari.
Principal photography gets underway this week in Dublin and will continue in Ethiopia including the Unesco world heritage site Harar Jugol. Further cast include Wunmi Mosaku and Kunal Nayyar.
The film will tell the story of a woman caught between two worlds. Orphaned in Africa as a child, and raised Muslim, Lilly Abdal (Fanning) escapes to England as a refugee, fleeing civil war. Lost in a cold new world,...
Dakota Fanning has signed up to play the lead in refugee story Sweetness In The Belly for director Zeresenay Berhane Mehari.
Principal photography gets underway this week in Dublin and will continue in Ethiopia including the Unesco world heritage site Harar Jugol. Further cast include Wunmi Mosaku and Kunal Nayyar.
The film will tell the story of a woman caught between two worlds. Orphaned in Africa as a child, and raised Muslim, Lilly Abdal (Fanning) escapes to England as a refugee, fleeing civil war. Lost in a cold new world,...
- 11/2/2018
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
For its second edition, the East Asia Film Festival Ireland (previously the Chinese language Film Festival Ireland) celebrates the diversity, artistry and variety of films from East and South East Asia. Over four days, the festival will feature a compelling range of films from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.
We are honoured to welcome the great Taiwanese cinematographer Mark Lee Ping-Bing as our guest in Dublin. A long-time collaborator with director Hou Hsiao-Hsien, he has also worked with many renowned directors including Wong Kar-Wai, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Tran Anh Hung, Ann Hui and Sylvia Chang.
The festival will feature the work of Mark Lee Ping-bing with rare screenings of five films spanning Mark Lee’s career, as well as an exclusive masterclass and post-screening Q&As.
Commenting on this year’s programme, Festival Artistic & Programme Director Marie-Pierre Richard said, ‘We are delighted to welcome our guest of honour Mark Lee Ping-Bing,...
We are honoured to welcome the great Taiwanese cinematographer Mark Lee Ping-Bing as our guest in Dublin. A long-time collaborator with director Hou Hsiao-Hsien, he has also worked with many renowned directors including Wong Kar-Wai, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Tran Anh Hung, Ann Hui and Sylvia Chang.
The festival will feature the work of Mark Lee Ping-bing with rare screenings of five films spanning Mark Lee’s career, as well as an exclusive masterclass and post-screening Q&As.
Commenting on this year’s programme, Festival Artistic & Programme Director Marie-Pierre Richard said, ‘We are delighted to welcome our guest of honour Mark Lee Ping-Bing,...
- 3/28/2018
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
A dad in Ireland has become a viral video sensation after his hilarious attempts to catch a bat that somehow flew into his home was posted on Facebook, where it’s been viewed more than 880,000 times — and counting. Tadhg Fleming took the video and offers wry commentary as his father, Derry, tries to catch […]...
- 9/6/2017
- by Brent Furdyk
- ET Canada
Before the Haze: Ridley’s Nuanced Portrait Worthy of Legendary Subject
After a rather cool reception following high profile festival play at Toronto and SXSW, John Ridley’s Jimi Hendrix biopic, Jimi: All is By My Side will be sure to garner a divisive response upon a theatrical release as well. Unable to acquire the rights to any of his music from the Hendrix estate, those looking for an audio celebration of the legend’s greatest hits will surely be disappointed. Likewise, Ridley, who wrote the screenplay and won an Oscar for 2013 Best Picture Winner 12 Years a Slave, does something even more daring by covering a specific period in Hendrix’s life, paring down the scope for what becomes a startlingly intimate glance at the man’s demeanor and philosophies. While liberties have arguably been taken (Kathy Etchingham has quite vocally railed against the film), gripes considering the presentation of...
After a rather cool reception following high profile festival play at Toronto and SXSW, John Ridley’s Jimi Hendrix biopic, Jimi: All is By My Side will be sure to garner a divisive response upon a theatrical release as well. Unable to acquire the rights to any of his music from the Hendrix estate, those looking for an audio celebration of the legend’s greatest hits will surely be disappointed. Likewise, Ridley, who wrote the screenplay and won an Oscar for 2013 Best Picture Winner 12 Years a Slave, does something even more daring by covering a specific period in Hendrix’s life, paring down the scope for what becomes a startlingly intimate glance at the man’s demeanor and philosophies. While liberties have arguably been taken (Kathy Etchingham has quite vocally railed against the film), gripes considering the presentation of...
- 9/25/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
'All Is By My Side', the Jimi Hendrix biopic currently filming in Ireland with Andre 3000, will not feature any Hendrix songs in the film, it has been confirmed.Tristan Orphen Lynch is producing for Subotica alongside Darko's Sean McKittrick, Jeff Culotta and Danny Bramson. Nigel Thomas is producing for Matador. Ridley and Tedd Hamm will executive produce. 'All Is By My Side' also stars Hayley Atwell (Captain America), Jade Yourell (Fair City, Happy Ever Afters), Danny McColgan (13 Steps Down), Laurence Kinlan (Love/Hate, The Guard) and Imogen Poots (Jane Eyre). Among the Irish crew working on the project are line producer Donna Eperon (Love Eternal, The Other Side of Sleep); cinematographer Tim Fleming (Once, Citadel) and English production designer Paul Cross (Spooks, Luther).
- 7/6/2012
- IFTN
Bosnian war drama As If I Am Not There received three Ifta awards for Best Film, Director and Script for the film's Irish writer/director Juanita Wilson at tonight's Ifta awards, celebrating the Irish film and television industry.
Martin MCCann was named Best Actor for 'Swansong - Story of Occi Byrn', while Amy Huberman was got Best Actress for 'Rewind.'
Pierce Brosnan and Saorise Ronan took home the supporting honours at the awards with Brosnan winning Best Supporting Actor for his role in 'The Ghost', while Ronan's part in The Way Back earned her the supporting actress honour.
In the international categories, 'The Social Network' won the best international film, with its star Jesse Eisenberg winning Best Actor. Annette Bening took Best Actress for 'The Kids Are All Right'.
Winners Of The 8th Annual Irish Film & Television Awards:
Outstanding Contribution to Industry...
Martin MCCann was named Best Actor for 'Swansong - Story of Occi Byrn', while Amy Huberman was got Best Actress for 'Rewind.'
Pierce Brosnan and Saorise Ronan took home the supporting honours at the awards with Brosnan winning Best Supporting Actor for his role in 'The Ghost', while Ronan's part in The Way Back earned her the supporting actress honour.
In the international categories, 'The Social Network' won the best international film, with its star Jesse Eisenberg winning Best Actor. Annette Bening took Best Actress for 'The Kids Are All Right'.
Winners Of The 8th Annual Irish Film & Television Awards:
Outstanding Contribution to Industry...
- 2/12/2011
- by noreply@blogger.com (Flicks News)
- FlicksNews.net
Short Films International and Magnolia Pictures are currently screening this year's Oscar nominated live-action and animated shorts in theaters prior to the March 7, 2010 Oscar presentation. For theater listings and times check out Shorts HD.com. Below are the reviews for the five Oscar-nominated live-action short films as well as trailers, official sites as well as the full version of my favorite short from the list of nominees.
You can get my reviews of the five nominated animated shorts right here.
Kavi India / 9:10 minutes Taking place in Maharashtra, India, Kavi centers on Kavi, a young boy working alongside his mother and father in a brick kiln as a modern-day slave. He prides himself for being the "fastest worker" and we see him smiling almost immediately until he looks up and sees school children playing a cricket. He stops and stares, wishing he could take part, but his dreams are dashed...
You can get my reviews of the five nominated animated shorts right here.
Kavi India / 9:10 minutes Taking place in Maharashtra, India, Kavi centers on Kavi, a young boy working alongside his mother and father in a brick kiln as a modern-day slave. He prides himself for being the "fastest worker" and we see him smiling almost immediately until he looks up and sees school children playing a cricket. He stops and stares, wishing he could take part, but his dreams are dashed...
- 2/22/2010
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Principal Photography of new feature film 'As If I'm Not There' is set to commence on 5 October. The film, adapted and to be directed by Juanita Wilson is her feature film debut. An Irish/Macedonian/Swedish co-production involving Octagon Films (Ireland), Sektor Films (Macedonia) and Stella Nova Films (Sweden) and based on the acclaimed novel by Slavenka Drakulic, the film will be produced by James Flynn (Octagon Films) and Nathalie Lichtenthaeler (Wide Eye Films) and co-produced by Vladimir Anastasov (Sektor Films) and Lena Rehnburg (Stella Nova Films). Shooting in Macedonia will commence on Monday, the 5th October with Tim Fleming (Once) as the director of photography. The film will star Fedja Stukan and Natasa Petrovic and is set in Bosnia during the 1990's Balkan Conflict. The line producer of the film is Karen Richards, whose production manager credits include 'The Tudors' and 'Fifty Dead Men Walking',...
- 10/1/2009
- IFTN
Filmmaker Juanita Wilson has found herself in the running for an Oscar nomination as an Irish entry for best short-film. Academy eligibility for the 'The Door' has come on the heels of an Irish Film and Television Award (Ifta) for Best Short Film, and the film was also honoured at the Sarajevo Film Festival by the Katrin Cartlidge Foundation Award 2009. 'The Door' was produced by Louise Curran and James Flynn, with Tim Fleming as its cinematographer. Other awards for the film have included winning the Bilbao Film Festival, taking the top prize in the Best Short Film category at the Academy-affiliated Foyle Film Festival and the prestigious Clare Lynch Award at the Cork Film Festival. The film also screened at the prestigious Edinburgh and Munich film festivals and the Telluride Film Festival.
- 9/7/2009
- IFTN
'As If I'm Not There', the feature film debut from writer/director Juanita Wilson (The Door) has secured EUR220,000 funding from the latest Eurimages co-production fund. The Irish / Macedonian / Swedish co-production is produced by Irish producers Nathalie Lichtenthaeler (The Front Line) from Wide Eye Films and James Flynn (Ondine) from Octagon Films. Lena Rehnberg (Let the Right One In) of Sweden's Stella Nova Films and Vladimir Anastasov (The Border Post) of Macedonia's Sektor Film Dooel are also producing. Filming is scheduled to begin on location in Macedonia and Sweden in September 2009 with a seven week shoot planned. Irish Dop Tim Fleming (Once, Wide Open Spaces) is lensing.
- 6/10/2009
- IFTN
- If Once is ultimately a collection of great songs in search of a movie, then that’s okay. The richness of the music moves the story along in ways that amuse and distract. Any good movie is not concerned with a breaking down of process but rather the finished work itself. But we’ll get back to that later.This tells the story of Guy (Glen Hansard), an Irish street musician who fixes vacuums at his dad’s Hoover shop and spends his free time playing guitar down on Grafton Street. He is performing one of his original tunes when Girl (Markéta Irglová) stops by, loves his songs, and creates the set up for a movie romance. Girl is apparently unfamiliar with the rest of the formula since she later rebukes Guy’s sexual advances. He becomes embarrassed and seeks friendship instead. It’s at this point that it
- 5/16/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
This review was written for the festival screening of "Once".PARK CITY -- Described by Irish director John Carney as an "art house musical," "Once" was one of the unheralded small films that took people by surprise and became a sleeper hit at the Sundance Film Festival, winning the World Audience Award. The story of a street musician and an immigrant girl who connect and then disconnect, the film has enormous charm and zero pretense. It deserves to find a home in theaters, where it should win over an indie audience with its likable characters and terrific music. At press time, "Once" was on the verge of being picked up.
Carney, who started out as bass player in the Irish band the Frames and became a filmmaker, had long been thinking about how to stage a modern musical. His solution was to make his main character a street musician (known as a busker in Ireland) and the heroine a Chechnyan immigrant who plays the piano, and have their relationship be expressed by the music they make together.
For the guy (the characters are never named), Carney had the good fortune to recruit Glen Hansard, the redheaded, charismatic lead singer of the Frames. For the girl, he found a beautiful Czech musician named Marketa Irglova, who was only 18 when shooting started. Hansard and Irglova already were friends and had made an album together, and they both get to the emotional truth of their parts with a naturalness that more seasoned performers rarely capture.
He's struggling to make a living singing on the street, and she sells roses to passersby to support her mother and young child. Struck by this guy singing his heart out, she starts a conversation and takes him to a music shop where she practices at lunchtime. As they run through a song titled "Falling Slowly", a soaring lament for wounded lovers, the camera films them separately and then together in the same frame, and it's clear that their musical bond is struck.
Hansard's character is talented, funny and tormented by the woman he has lost, while Irglova still is wondering what to do about the husband she left back home. It is impossible not to root for these appealing people to get together, but it might be the wrong time and place for them.
In the tradition of movie musicals, he wants to record some songs for a demo and recruits a motley crew of street musicians and rents studio space for a weekend. After the session, he plans to take off for London to try to win back his girlfriend, despite the growing attraction for his new friend.
The set-up of the film allows for wall-to-wall music. The tunes, most of them written by Hansard, are powerfully performed with a Gaelic directness in a folk-rock vein. As the songs come together in the studio, the music and their feelings build to a climax that is achingly real. In a Hollywood film, there is no doubt that they would wind up together. Here the maturity of the filmmaking allows for the possibility of disappointment. The accomplishment of the film is that it's just as satisfying.
Although made quickly and cheaply (the film was financed by the Irish Film Board), "Once" has an appropriately rough-hewn look, the visual equivalent of a talented garage band. Lensing by Tim Fleming on Dublin location captures the spirit of a town that is booming around characters who don't quite fit in. But their indomitable spirit comes through loud and clear in this lovely film.
ONCE
Samson Films
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: John Carney
Producer: Martina Niland
Executive producer: David Collins
Director of photography: Tim Fleming
Production designer: Tamara Conboy
Music: Glen Hansard, Markets Irglova
Costume designer: Tiziana Corvisieri
Editor: Paul Mullen
Cast:
Guy: Glen Hansard
Girl: Marketa Irglova
Guy's dad: Bill Hodnett
Girl's mother: Danuse Ktrestova
Ex-girlfriend: Marcella Plunkett
Timmy Drummer: Hugh Walsh
Lead guitarist: Gerry Hendrik
Bassist: Alastair Foley
Bill: Mal Whyte
Eamon: Geoff Minogue
Running time -- 88 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Carney, who started out as bass player in the Irish band the Frames and became a filmmaker, had long been thinking about how to stage a modern musical. His solution was to make his main character a street musician (known as a busker in Ireland) and the heroine a Chechnyan immigrant who plays the piano, and have their relationship be expressed by the music they make together.
For the guy (the characters are never named), Carney had the good fortune to recruit Glen Hansard, the redheaded, charismatic lead singer of the Frames. For the girl, he found a beautiful Czech musician named Marketa Irglova, who was only 18 when shooting started. Hansard and Irglova already were friends and had made an album together, and they both get to the emotional truth of their parts with a naturalness that more seasoned performers rarely capture.
He's struggling to make a living singing on the street, and she sells roses to passersby to support her mother and young child. Struck by this guy singing his heart out, she starts a conversation and takes him to a music shop where she practices at lunchtime. As they run through a song titled "Falling Slowly", a soaring lament for wounded lovers, the camera films them separately and then together in the same frame, and it's clear that their musical bond is struck.
Hansard's character is talented, funny and tormented by the woman he has lost, while Irglova still is wondering what to do about the husband she left back home. It is impossible not to root for these appealing people to get together, but it might be the wrong time and place for them.
In the tradition of movie musicals, he wants to record some songs for a demo and recruits a motley crew of street musicians and rents studio space for a weekend. After the session, he plans to take off for London to try to win back his girlfriend, despite the growing attraction for his new friend.
The set-up of the film allows for wall-to-wall music. The tunes, most of them written by Hansard, are powerfully performed with a Gaelic directness in a folk-rock vein. As the songs come together in the studio, the music and their feelings build to a climax that is achingly real. In a Hollywood film, there is no doubt that they would wind up together. Here the maturity of the filmmaking allows for the possibility of disappointment. The accomplishment of the film is that it's just as satisfying.
Although made quickly and cheaply (the film was financed by the Irish Film Board), "Once" has an appropriately rough-hewn look, the visual equivalent of a talented garage band. Lensing by Tim Fleming on Dublin location captures the spirit of a town that is booming around characters who don't quite fit in. But their indomitable spirit comes through loud and clear in this lovely film.
ONCE
Samson Films
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: John Carney
Producer: Martina Niland
Executive producer: David Collins
Director of photography: Tim Fleming
Production designer: Tamara Conboy
Music: Glen Hansard, Markets Irglova
Costume designer: Tiziana Corvisieri
Editor: Paul Mullen
Cast:
Guy: Glen Hansard
Girl: Marketa Irglova
Guy's dad: Bill Hodnett
Girl's mother: Danuse Ktrestova
Ex-girlfriend: Marcella Plunkett
Timmy Drummer: Hugh Walsh
Lead guitarist: Gerry Hendrik
Bassist: Alastair Foley
Bill: Mal Whyte
Eamon: Geoff Minogue
Running time -- 88 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/30/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARK CITY -- Described by Irish director John Carney as an "art house musical," "Once" was one of the unheralded small films that took people by surprise and became a sleeper hit at the Sundance Film Festival, winning the World Audience Award. The story of a street musician and an immigrant girl who connect and then disconnect, the film has enormous charm and zero pretense. It deserves to find a home in theaters, where it should win over an indie audience with its likable characters and terrific music. At press time, "Once" was on the verge of being picked up.
Carney, who started out as bass player in the Irish band the Frames and became a filmmaker, had long been thinking about how to stage a modern musical. His solution was to make his main character a street musician (known as a busker in Ireland) and the heroine a Chechnyan immigrant who plays the piano, and have their relationship be expressed by the music they make together.
For the guy (the characters are never named), Carney had the good fortune to recruit Glen Hansard, the redheaded, charismatic lead singer of the Frames. For the girl, he found a beautiful Czech musician named Marketa Irglova, who was only 18 when shooting started. Hansard and Irglova already were friends and had made an album together, and they both get to the emotional truth of their parts with a naturalness that more seasoned performers rarely capture.
He's struggling to make a living singing on the street, and she sells roses to passersby to support her mother and young child. Struck by this guy singing his heart out, she starts a conversation and takes him to a music shop where she practices at lunchtime. As they run through a song titled "Falling Slowly", a soaring lament for wounded lovers, the camera films them separately and then together in the same frame, and it's clear that their musical bond is struck.
Hansard's character is talented, funny and tormented by the woman he has lost, while Irglova still is wondering what to do about the husband she left back home. It is impossible not to root for these appealing people to get together, but it might be the wrong time and place for them.
In the tradition of movie musicals, he wants to record some songs for a demo and recruits a motley crew of street musicians and rents studio space for a weekend. After the session, he plans to take off for London to try to win back his girlfriend, despite the growing attraction for his new friend.
The set-up of the film allows for wall-to-wall music. The tunes, most of them written by Hansard, are powerfully performed with a Gaelic directness in a folk-rock vein. As the songs come together in the studio, the music and their feelings build to a climax that is achingly real. In a Hollywood film, there is no doubt that they would wind up together. Here the maturity of the filmmaking allows for the possibility of disappointment. The accomplishment of the film is that it's just as satisfying.
Although made quickly and cheaply (the film was financed by the Irish Film Board), "Once" has an appropriately rough-hewn look, the visual equivalent of a talented garage band. Lensing by Tim Fleming on Dublin location captures the spirit of a town that is booming around characters who don't quite fit in. But their indomitable spirit comes through loud and clear in this lovely film.
ONCE
Samson Films
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: John Carney
Producer: Martina Niland
Executive producer: David Collins
Director of photography: Tim Fleming
Production designer: Tamara Conboy
Music: Glen Hansard, Markets Irglova
Costume designer: Tiziana Corvisieri
Editor: Paul Mullen
Cast:
Guy: Glen Hansard
Girl: Marketa Irglova
Guy's dad: Bill Hodnett
Girl's mother: Danuse Ktrestova
Ex-girlfriend: Marcella Plunkett
Timmy Drummer: Hugh Walsh
Lead guitarist: Gerry Hendrik
Bassist: Alastair Foley
Bill: Mal Whyte
Eamon: Geoff Minogue
Running time -- 88 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Carney, who started out as bass player in the Irish band the Frames and became a filmmaker, had long been thinking about how to stage a modern musical. His solution was to make his main character a street musician (known as a busker in Ireland) and the heroine a Chechnyan immigrant who plays the piano, and have their relationship be expressed by the music they make together.
For the guy (the characters are never named), Carney had the good fortune to recruit Glen Hansard, the redheaded, charismatic lead singer of the Frames. For the girl, he found a beautiful Czech musician named Marketa Irglova, who was only 18 when shooting started. Hansard and Irglova already were friends and had made an album together, and they both get to the emotional truth of their parts with a naturalness that more seasoned performers rarely capture.
He's struggling to make a living singing on the street, and she sells roses to passersby to support her mother and young child. Struck by this guy singing his heart out, she starts a conversation and takes him to a music shop where she practices at lunchtime. As they run through a song titled "Falling Slowly", a soaring lament for wounded lovers, the camera films them separately and then together in the same frame, and it's clear that their musical bond is struck.
Hansard's character is talented, funny and tormented by the woman he has lost, while Irglova still is wondering what to do about the husband she left back home. It is impossible not to root for these appealing people to get together, but it might be the wrong time and place for them.
In the tradition of movie musicals, he wants to record some songs for a demo and recruits a motley crew of street musicians and rents studio space for a weekend. After the session, he plans to take off for London to try to win back his girlfriend, despite the growing attraction for his new friend.
The set-up of the film allows for wall-to-wall music. The tunes, most of them written by Hansard, are powerfully performed with a Gaelic directness in a folk-rock vein. As the songs come together in the studio, the music and their feelings build to a climax that is achingly real. In a Hollywood film, there is no doubt that they would wind up together. Here the maturity of the filmmaking allows for the possibility of disappointment. The accomplishment of the film is that it's just as satisfying.
Although made quickly and cheaply (the film was financed by the Irish Film Board), "Once" has an appropriately rough-hewn look, the visual equivalent of a talented garage band. Lensing by Tim Fleming on Dublin location captures the spirit of a town that is booming around characters who don't quite fit in. But their indomitable spirit comes through loud and clear in this lovely film.
ONCE
Samson Films
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: John Carney
Producer: Martina Niland
Executive producer: David Collins
Director of photography: Tim Fleming
Production designer: Tamara Conboy
Music: Glen Hansard, Markets Irglova
Costume designer: Tiziana Corvisieri
Editor: Paul Mullen
Cast:
Guy: Glen Hansard
Girl: Marketa Irglova
Guy's dad: Bill Hodnett
Girl's mother: Danuse Ktrestova
Ex-girlfriend: Marcella Plunkett
Timmy Drummer: Hugh Walsh
Lead guitarist: Gerry Hendrik
Bassist: Alastair Foley
Bill: Mal Whyte
Eamon: Geoff Minogue
Running time -- 88 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/30/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARK CITY -- Described by Irish director John Carney as an "art house musical," "Once" was one of the unheralded small films that took people by surprise and became a sleeper hit at the Sundance Film Festival, winning the World Audience Award. The story of a street musician and an immigrant girl who connect and then disconnect, the film has enormous charm and zero pretense. It deserves to find a home in theaters, where it should win over an indie audience with its likable characters and terrific music. At press time, "Once" was on the verge of being picked up.
Carney, who started out as bass player in the Irish band the Frames and became a filmmaker, had long been thinking about how to stage a modern musical. His solution was to make his main character a street musician (known as a busker in Ireland) and the heroine a Chechnyan immigrant who plays the piano, and have their relationship be expressed by the music they make together.
For the guy (the characters are never named), Carney had the good fortune to recruit Glen Hansard, the redheaded, charismatic lead singer of the Frames. For the girl, he found a beautiful Czech musician named Marketa Irglova, who was only 18 when shooting started. Hansard and Irglova already were friends and had made an album together, and they both get to the emotional truth of their parts with a naturalness that more seasoned performers rarely capture.
He's struggling to make a living singing on the street, and she sells roses to passersby to support her mother and young child. Struck by this guy singing his heart out, she starts a conversation and takes him to a music shop where she practices at lunchtime. As they run through a song titled "Falling Slowly", a soaring lament for wounded lovers, the camera films them separately and then together in the same frame, and it's clear that their musical bond is struck.
Hansard's character is talented, funny and tormented by the woman he has lost, while Irglova still is wondering what to do about the husband she left back home. It is impossible not to root for these appealing people to get together, but it might be the wrong time and place for them.
In the tradition of movie musicals, he wants to record some songs for a demo and recruits a motley crew of street musicians and rents studio space for a weekend. After the session, he plans to take off for London to try to win back his girlfriend, despite the growing attraction for his new friend.
The set-up of the film allows for wall-to-wall music. The tunes, most of them written by Hansard, are powerfully performed with a Gaelic directness in a folk-rock vein. As the songs come together in the studio, the music and their feelings build to a climax that is achingly real. In a Hollywood film, there is no doubt that they would wind up together. Here the maturity of the filmmaking allows for the possibility of disappointment. The accomplishment of the film is that it's just as satisfying.
Although made quickly and cheaply (the film was financed by the Irish Film Board), "Once" has an appropriately rough-hewn look, the visual equivalent of a talented garage band. Lensing by Tim Fleming on Dublin location captures the spirit of a town that is booming around characters who don't quite fit in. But their indomitable spirit comes through loud and clear in this lovely film.
ONCE
Samson Films
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: John Carney
Producer: Martina Niland
Executive producer: David Collins
Director of photography: Tim Fleming
Production designer: Tamara Conboy
Music: Glen Hansard, Markets Irglova
Costume designer: Tiziana Corvisieri
Editor: Paul Mullen
Cast:
Guy: Glen Hansard
Girl: Marketa Irglova
Guy's dad: Bill Hodnett
Girl's mother: Danuse Ktrestova
Ex-girlfriend: Marcella Plunkett
Timmy Drummer: Hugh Walsh
Lead guitarist: Gerry Hendrik
Bassist: Alastair Foley
Bill: Mal Whyte
Eamon: Geoff Minogue
Running time -- 88 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Carney, who started out as bass player in the Irish band the Frames and became a filmmaker, had long been thinking about how to stage a modern musical. His solution was to make his main character a street musician (known as a busker in Ireland) and the heroine a Chechnyan immigrant who plays the piano, and have their relationship be expressed by the music they make together.
For the guy (the characters are never named), Carney had the good fortune to recruit Glen Hansard, the redheaded, charismatic lead singer of the Frames. For the girl, he found a beautiful Czech musician named Marketa Irglova, who was only 18 when shooting started. Hansard and Irglova already were friends and had made an album together, and they both get to the emotional truth of their parts with a naturalness that more seasoned performers rarely capture.
He's struggling to make a living singing on the street, and she sells roses to passersby to support her mother and young child. Struck by this guy singing his heart out, she starts a conversation and takes him to a music shop where she practices at lunchtime. As they run through a song titled "Falling Slowly", a soaring lament for wounded lovers, the camera films them separately and then together in the same frame, and it's clear that their musical bond is struck.
Hansard's character is talented, funny and tormented by the woman he has lost, while Irglova still is wondering what to do about the husband she left back home. It is impossible not to root for these appealing people to get together, but it might be the wrong time and place for them.
In the tradition of movie musicals, he wants to record some songs for a demo and recruits a motley crew of street musicians and rents studio space for a weekend. After the session, he plans to take off for London to try to win back his girlfriend, despite the growing attraction for his new friend.
The set-up of the film allows for wall-to-wall music. The tunes, most of them written by Hansard, are powerfully performed with a Gaelic directness in a folk-rock vein. As the songs come together in the studio, the music and their feelings build to a climax that is achingly real. In a Hollywood film, there is no doubt that they would wind up together. Here the maturity of the filmmaking allows for the possibility of disappointment. The accomplishment of the film is that it's just as satisfying.
Although made quickly and cheaply (the film was financed by the Irish Film Board), "Once" has an appropriately rough-hewn look, the visual equivalent of a talented garage band. Lensing by Tim Fleming on Dublin location captures the spirit of a town that is booming around characters who don't quite fit in. But their indomitable spirit comes through loud and clear in this lovely film.
ONCE
Samson Films
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: John Carney
Producer: Martina Niland
Executive producer: David Collins
Director of photography: Tim Fleming
Production designer: Tamara Conboy
Music: Glen Hansard, Markets Irglova
Costume designer: Tiziana Corvisieri
Editor: Paul Mullen
Cast:
Guy: Glen Hansard
Girl: Marketa Irglova
Guy's dad: Bill Hodnett
Girl's mother: Danuse Ktrestova
Ex-girlfriend: Marcella Plunkett
Timmy Drummer: Hugh Walsh
Lead guitarist: Gerry Hendrik
Bassist: Alastair Foley
Bill: Mal Whyte
Eamon: Geoff Minogue
Running time -- 88 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/30/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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