Justin at the Movies

#5

// June 4th, 2009 // 100 movies

Once

Last years rank: 82

↑77 positions

First of all, this was the biggest mistake I made on last years list. I had just completed the list when I watched this movie and I loved it so much that I knew that it had to be included but I didn’t know where, so I just threw it in there randomly. This is the spot it belongs in. And remarkably, this movie gets better and better the more times you watch it. I watched this movie more than any other movie last year at nearly ten times. It is that good. The story is about two musicians who run into each other on the streets of Dublin. The Guy, played by Glen Hansard, is an aspiring musician and plays his guitar on the streets. One day The Girl, played by the lovely Marketa Irglova, hears him playing and is greatly intrigued. She tells him that she plays the piano and they decide to try and play some music together.

This is the most innocent and unadulterated love story I have ever seen on film. And it doesn’t go the way that you expect it to. I also love that about it. It is essentially about musicians doing what they love. There is no hollywood romance crap thrown into it. It looks and feels just like real life. Both Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are actual real life musicians. Glen Hansard was the frontman of the band ‘The Frames,’ and Marketa is a Czech concert pianist. This is the only movie either of these two have been in and both have said that they won’t make another movie. And they both do great jobs in this movie. They also incorporated the music into the movie so it’s almost like a musical but not. You will see what I mean with the clip. Anyway, the music is so brilliant, all of which was written and composed by Hansard and Irglova. Every music fan should watch this movie. It will blow you away. It’s funny, moving, and most importantly charming. A movie that feels completetly untouched by Hollywood. This clip is when The Girl takes The Guy into a music store where the owner let’s her practice on the piano during lunch time. The Guy teaches her one of his songs. This is a beautiful movie and a beautiful song. It won the 2008 academy award for best original song, as it should have. And there wasn’t crap for clips on youtube, this was the only one for this scene that I wanted to use and the quality sucks, and the audio is off but oh well. The scene and song are both still awesome. This is without a doubt the greatest soundtrack of all time. #5. Enjoy.