Boy Meets Girland They Meet the Music in a Low Budget Charmer

Rating: 8/10 (25 June 2007)

I doubt if I've seen a film more unabashedly romantic in the past five years, and this small-scale 2007 film is a musical to boot. Even with its Dublin-set working-class veneer, the story is basic boy-meets-girl formula, but director/screenwriter John Carney's real-world treatment manages to transcend the conventions, even if only fleetingly, through the aching pop ballads which make up most of the soundtrack and the sincerity of the two leads. The plot focuses on an Irish street musician who plays Van Morrison hits for change during the day but reverts to his original compositions at night. Written for a long-established girlfriend who has moved away to London, his open yearning and musicianship attracts the persistent attention of a young Czech girl. Despite his initial hesitation, they bond quickly over music. There is a lovely scene in a piano shop where he sings and plays his well-worn guitar to one of his songs, a stunning heartbreaker called "Falling Slowly", while she tentatively accompanies him on the piano. The story simply goes from one number to the next while uncovering facts about the characters that guide their fate.
It's been sixteen years since his memorable turn as guitarist Outspan Foster in Alan Parker's "The Commitments", but Glen Hansard, lead singer of the Irish rock group, the Frames, plays the forlorn busker with a searching intensity befitting a man not only broken-hearted from a fading long-distance relationship but also worried he will end up repairing vacuum cleaners just like his stoic father. Markéta Irglová has the quirky, endearing quality necessary to play the girl. But as musicians whose compositions supply the soundtrack, their acting is secondary to the music they play. Hansard's deeply felt music immediately brings to mind Damien Rice's and David Gray's melancholy folk-rock ballads, while Irglová provides a nice complement with a voice similar to Björk's plaintive style. I have to admit the low-budget production values (it was made for just $150K) does make itself clear with some shaky, hand-held shots and overly grainy film stock. But all in all, if you are a fan of any of the musicians mentioned and remain undemanding in cinematic story lines, chances are pretty good that you will enjoy this little film enormously.