Tribeca is host to a very special film (that premiered last night and will screen again Friday) called The Swell Season, which documents the relationship of Glen hansard and Marketa Irglova of Once. The two starred in the film, wrote and performed the music, and became an off-screen couple as they toured the country with the music from the film, even winning an Oscar for one of the songs. Unfortunately the relationship did not work out, and many a film geek’s heart was broken to hear that the two had split (though it was for very understandable, healthy reasons). The documentary apparently covers all of that excitment, and captures much of what led up to the two parting ways.
Indiewire had postive things to say about the documentary, calling it “a charming and polished new entry into the music documentary corpus” and grabbing this bit of background from filmmaker Carlo Mirabella-Davis at a Q&A…
“I was teaching a film class and Glen was one of my students. It was right after the Oscar win and that’s how we met… We had this long discussion about life and art and terror and he said that he was embarking on this tour with Marketa. They were going to travel the canvas of America, the Czech Republic and Ireland. So I went back and met with Nick and Chris and we decided that this could be really interesting and unusual documentary. We pitched the idea to them, thankfully they said yes, and we traveled around with them for about three years.”
While Hansard and Irglova are both very private individuals (unless on stage- Glen can’t shut the fuck up on stage!), the documentary apparently follows them closely enough that there is a strong window into what they were going through.
This documentary wasn’t on my radar before now, but now that I know it exists I’m more frightened than excited. Once is a very important film to a lot of people, and I’m definitely among them. The beauty, sadness, and music of that film is written into a specific time in my life, a long story culminating in an actual trip to see the two in concert. It’s probably enough to say that I have avoided the film and the soundtrack for more than a year now (I miss it, but shit’s too hard to handle), but there’s no way I could allow myself to avoid this doc. I know it’s going to tear me to shreds when I finally see it though.
I would imagine the same will be true for many chewers, as Once found a very passionate audience on CHUD (a result of Devin Faraci’s ceaseless championing). There’s an old interview you can read here.
Rest assured, I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this doc and letting you know exactly where you can see it.
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(via Mr. Andrew Molinaro on FB)