My kind of musical

Rating: 9/10 (14 March 2008)

There are many reasons for me not to like this film. I hate musicals, and while this is not a musical (in a strict sense), music plays a very important role in it. I do not care for Glen Hansard's singing voice; Markéta Irglová is OK, though. I have the impression that the whole movie was shot using a steadicam (many shoots made me feel like I was watching a documentary), and you can see that this is a really low-budget film.
After watching the first scene, I thought that I would probably not finish the movie, but the longer I watched it, the more I was drawn to the characters and the story. With the exception of continuous repetition of the "F" word, it is very innocent. Music is great (if you like this kind of music). Characters are very real (it's like you watch them living, not acting). Absolutely no clichés. I enjoyed subtleness of the movie and performances of other characters: the Girl's mom, the young guys who come to her flat to watch TV, the guy from the recording studio.
A few scenes almost made me cry: the one when Guy takes Girl for a bike ride and asks if she loves her husband (although, I do not speak Czech, I understood the answer), the other when Girl could't finish the song, and there were more. Very emotional. I'm surprised how much I care about the characters, even though I don't even know their names. After watching the movie for the first time, I replayed a few scenes (the one in which Girl sing "If you want me (satisfy me)" and the first performance in In the recording studio), something I normally do not do.
I suspect that this is not a movie for everyone. If you are more into special effects, typical Hollywood production, action movies, Star Wars, etc, I suspect you will not like it (and I may be wrong here), but if you like real stories, real people, good music, you may enjoy it.