I just saw the movie Once, and it was pretty awesome. I’ve been meaning to see it for a while, but Patty made seeing it my homework for this week. Wow, this movie was really good. It was character-driven (i.e., boring for most people), but mostly about music. It’s about this dude who plays the guitar and sings, but has a crappy job that’s going nowhere. He meets this Czech girl and they collaborate on music and stuff. The plot isn’t really central to the movie though, it’s about the music.

The main dude is Glen Hansard, the singer for the Frames, this band that I’ve loved since I lived in Ireland 10+ years ago. In one of the early scenes, he even sings one of the songs from the CD I bought in Ireland all those years ago. It turns out that he was also the red-haired guitar player in The Committments who I had a major crush on after I saw that movie! I had no idea! Come to think of it, that Frames CD is one of the only rock CDs I bought in the 90s after Grunge died (I think I also bought the Squirrel Nut Zippers. Those are the only 2). I still listen to it sometimes, in fact, I always put a song from it on my “songs to sing [in the car, while doing dishes etc.]” mix tapes.

The whole movie takes place in Dublin, which made me homesick or something for it. I recognized most of the places the movie was filmed (Grafton St., Temple Bar, the main places). They even showed the very HMV where I bought that Frames CD at the urging of Eamonn C., the dude I had a small fling with… Anyway, this movie was one I could totally relate to– an aging guy who is lonely and whose life is going nowhere, and all he really has is music… Plus all the scenes of Dublin reminded me of when I was young and lived there and was slightly less cynical and jaded than I am now. Basically, I bawled like a little bitch all the way through it. There you have it, folks–the 4th (5th? Did I cry in The Wind That Shakes the Barley? I can’t remember now) movie in history that has made me cry.

Darn it! Listening to Fitzcarraldo, the Frames’ first CD, the last track is totally scratched and skips. I don’t think it was ever released here, so I’ll probably have to back to Ireland to get another one!