Once

I think art is making a comeback. I'm liking rediscovering it.

Once is the top of my hit list (as soon as the library gets it). Just looks like a good movie and I am repeatedly hearing great things about it. It's out on DVD now and just won an Oscar for Best Original Song, Falling Slowly. I have high hopes for the film. The trailer if you care.

It's a great story of film making and beating the odds. They essentially used two hi-tech camcorders to shoot the film over three weeks for $100,000. A minuscule amount for movie making. My understanding is the main characters wrote all of the music themselves.

Here's the song clip from the movie that won the award.



One of the song writers, Marketa Irglova, was cut off by the orchestra before she could give her acceptance speech. Jon Stewart brought her back out to say thanks after the break. Classy and certainly meaningful for someone who very likely will never see that stage again.

ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

Glen Hansard:

Thanks! This is amazing. What are we doing here? This is mad. We made this film two years ago. We shot on two Handycams. It took us three weeks to make. We made it for a hundred grand. We never thought we would come into a room like this and be in front of you people. It's been an amazing thing. Thanks for taking this film seriously, all of you. It means a lot to us. Thanks to the Academy, thanks to all the people who've helped us, they know who they are, we don't need to say them. This is amazing. Make art. Make art. Thanks.

Marketa Irglova:

Hi everyone. I just want to thank you so much. This is such a big deal, not only for us, but for all other independent musicians and artists that spend most of their time struggling, and this, the fact that we're standing here tonight, the fact that we're able to hold this, it's just to prove no matter how far out your dreams are, it's possible. And, you know, fair play to those who dare to dream and don't give up. And this song was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are. And so thank you so much, who helped us along way. Thank you.