B+


Well, I went in with pretty high expectations and while I didn't come out disappointed, I also wasn't nearly as blown away as some people were here (my girlfriend really loved it, though).

irst of all, while I knew that this movie would be primarily about the songs and the music, I didn't actually expect it to have THAT many songs in it. Basically the song-to-dialogue ration seemed to be 4:1 or so. Thank God the songs all ranged from decent to great, so I didn't mind as much, but it was still something I had to get used to. As for the storyline, I thought it was really well-done. Someone mentioned the word "real" here and that's exactly how it felt to me. It was a very real romance with a sadly real ending to. Very often it verged on clichéd and fantasy, but it never actually crossed the line. There's no happy ending in a typical sense of the word, but it is not very sad either (Guy goes to London finally, Girl gets her piano and husband back). The romance is real (doesn't end happily for the two), yet some bits are clichéd (how often would it happen this way and get this far anyway after a coincidental talk in the streets). I thought the movie did a very fine job walking this fine line between harsh reality and romantic fantasy.

That said, unlike many others here for most of the time I just failed to connect with the characters. The relationshi is well-built and all, yet for most of the film I felt no chemistry between the leads. You know what, though? As the ending arrived and Guy has to leave Dublin and can't even say a proper goodbye to girl...that's when it hit me hard and made me realize how much chemistry they've had throughout. It was just such a gradual development that I didn't noice until the very end which left me feeling a bit sad, yet happy at the same time.

The performances by our leads are good, but I just say that Markéta Irglová outshined Glen hansard in al of the scenes there were in together. There's some kind of an innocent charm to her, I'm not sure I can put it into words. (by the way, I was very surprised to find out that she was just 18 when shooting this film! She came across as somewhat older and I'd have never realized that the age difference between her and Hansard is actually 18 years). Hansard's performance was quite standard.

As for the songs, "Falling Slowly" is the CLEAR stand-out. The scene when they were play/sing it together is just so beautiful. I'm very happy it won the Oscar, what a well-deserving win! Loved it. The other songs in the film are, well, some are good, othersjust okay. I think there were too many of them in the film, but some here will probably disagree. I wish the thing had more dialogue, but I guess that was the point of the film, to not have much of it and convey all the feelings through music. It's an interesting approach, but also one I justdon't fully agree with.

Overall, it looks like my review almost sounds a bit better than my grade, so I definitely need to revisit this movie at some later point before I can settle on my final grade.

Once played like a modern "fairy tale". Everything (from the setting to the story to the dialogues) seemed so scripted even when the camera work tried to suggest otherwise. The filmmakers and actors' deliberate effort to make the film look real had just the opposite effect --- making it too self-conscious.

The songs set the smooth pace of the film, thus giving the film a pleasant mood. However, the dialogues at times exposed discontinuity between scenes. Overall, it is just another feel-good movie which demands no skepticism from its audience.

Grade: B-

I basically agree with everything Lecter said, especially about Irglova and Falling Slowly. B+ as well.

OK, so I'm going to watch this soon, because I must. I cried like three times while listening to Falling Slowly.

hmm, I've never commented on this movie? I guess I don't have a lot to say.
I watched this about a year and a half ago, when I was a music fanatic and not a movie fanatic. I loved it with all my heart. Now that I'm a movie fanatic rather than a music fanatic I doubt I would like it as much, but I haven't seen it since I first watched it. I do love the soundtrack though.

This now sits at the very top of my 2007 list, quite how it took me so long to see this is beyond me, but i'm so glad i did. Totally and utterly fell in love with it. A+

Now to buy the soundtrack...

can we stop pretending to like this movie now?

There must be a reason you went searching for this thread.