Sad, Sad News

Several news outlets are reporting that Austrailian actor Heath Ledger has passed away today at the age of 28. The cause of death has not yet been determined. Mr. Ledger was the star of such films as A Knights Tale, Brokeback Mountain, and the forth coming Batman sequal The Dark Knight. I have always thought very highly of the man as an actor. Although I knew very little about him personally I am sad to see him go.

My thoughts and prayers go out to his surviving family and friends. May he rest in peace.

Here is a link to the AP story.

Once: A film review

I might've passed this film a hundred times on the shelf at the video store if it hadn't been for my Dad's recommendation. Glen Hansard (the Frames) plays the Guy. By day he repairs Hoovers in his dad's vacuum shop, and by night he is a busker (that's street performer for my fellow Americans) in a busy shopping district in Dublin. The Girl, played by Markéta Irglová,(Czech musician and songwriter) is a young immigrant flower peddler who stops one evening to listen to the Guy play. She asks him direct, and personal questions about the nature of his songs, their meanings, and then asks the Guy to repair her Hoover. The two have lunch, and wind up in a music store where the Guy discovers that the Girl, too, is a musician.

The Guy is still damaged goods after a bad break up, and the Girl is hiding hurts of her own. The rest of the movie is a musical journey. Pictures and music come together to tell a story, where details and dialogue are left behind. The minutiae is in the songs and the pictures, the expressions on faces. Glances take the place of minutes of dialogue. Hansard and Irglová's songs fill in the hollow spaces, and they are powerful (The film has garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best song, and Hansard and Irglová have been nominated for two Grammy awards.). I, for one, am running out to get the soundtrack ASAP. Most of the songs in the movie were written by the two lead actors, and neither of the lead roles were filled by accomplished actors. Hansard had only been in one other movie, The Commitments, back in 1991, and Irglová had never acted. And it's never an issue. The two have a chemistry that Hollywood types yearn for, and it is all natural.

The Girl encourages The Guy to record an album, leave for London, get his girlfriend back, and become a successful musician. The two collaborate along with other street musicians and create a staggering array of inspired songs. Feelings brew and mingle between the two, but this is an honest film. What transpires between the pair is life. Sometimes things aren't always story book. But they can still be beautiful. And this film is beautiful from start to finish.

Score: 5/5