Once

Carla and I rented a film called "Once" last week on a whim, knowing absolutely nothing about it. Both of us loved the movie and the story behind how the movie was made (which we learned about from watching the Special Features). We also loved the songs which form the backbone of the film. "Once", which tells the bittersweet tale of two musicians who fall in love, was written and directed by Dubliner John Carney. Carney had at one time played bass for singer/songwriter Glen Hansard, a veteran of the Dublin music scene. Carney initially asked Hansard to write some songs for the shoe-string budget film he was trying to make, but ended up convincing Hansard and Czech-born singer/songwriter Marketa Irglova to star in the film as well, reasoning that it would be better to have great musicians who could sort-of act than great actors who could sort-of make music. The film was shot in 3 weeks for $100,000.00.

Lo and behold, it became an underground hit. One of the songs used in the film, co-written by Hansard and Irglova, was unexpectedly nominated for an Oscar.

Carla and I actually cheered tonight as the song, "Falling Slowly", won the Oscar! Both Hansard and Irglova, gave inspiring acceptance speeches, which were the highlight of the entire awards ceremony. It's nice to see a couple of relatively unknown struggling artists get such a tremendous break. As one of the lines in their song says, "You have suffered enough and warred with yourself / It's time that you won."