2008 Oscar Best Music Original Song
2007 Sundance Film Festival World Cinema Audience Award Dramatic
So, not a lot happens, and you have to listen to a number of songs all the way through, so you got to like the music.And length-wise it is more like a good Play of the Month. Those are the downsides. The positives,of which there are lots, start with the characters. All likeable,well acted in the sense that you think they are playing themselves, and a story which avoids all those american "cliches".And it is happy--the humour gentle and the two central players you care for and like--you want them to make the right calls, and for God to look down and take care of them. So take it out,enjoy it and think that there have been some interesting films coming out of the ould country recently-and this is up there as one of the nicest.
An extremely potent, emotional musical about the relationship between an Irish busker and a Czech immigrant (real life musicians, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova), set in Dublin. It's a love story; but they are in love with other people in other countries. The film details their loneliness, and the solace their brief encounter might bring. The two stars truly create a chemistry often talked about but rarely seen. It helps to like the music: if so, the scene when Marketa sings If You Want Me to her absent husband, walking back from the shops is heart-rending.
There is a wonderful simplicity about this film, which works because the director has a lovely eye for detail, creating an intimacy with his digital camera. Once evokes that special relationship that exists between musicians, and the different language they share, and it allows us to eavesdrop on the magic that they may find together in the studio. It's a film that couples the enchantment often found in musicals, with a realistic recognition of familiar sorrow.
I really loved this film it is beautifully filmed and the characters are quirky and great. Its small story but plays out wonderfully and the acting is a joy to watch