bipolar movie weekend

I saw two movies this weekend, and they were polar opposites of each other.

Once
Today, I finally saw Once, and I loved it. The low-budget Irish film sometimes needed subtitles for my American ears. Once the singing begins, though, everything makes sense. It stars Glen Hansard, the lead singer of The Frames, and Marketa Irglova, a Czech musician.

The grittiness of the film and the hand-held camera shots gave the movie a documentary feel. And then there's the music. It's achingly beautiful, and it tells the story more so than the sparse dialogue.

There's a lot about this film online, so I will cut to the chase with some quick facts I learned. By the way, if you want to see the film, don't read too much about it online. In fact, the article I link to below includes some spoilers -- but none below.

* Cillian Murphy was originally cast in the lead. He bowed out partly because the director chose a non-actor in the leading female role (according to the NY Times.

* Filming was complete in 17 days for $150,000, most of which was paid for by the Irish Film Board.

* The title of the film, according to director John Carney, refers to fellow Irishmen and women he would encounter in bars: “They say, ‘Once I do this, then it’ll be great.’ But they never do it. It’s a great Irish tradition of vacillating.”

* The bandmates in the film are indeed members of The Frames.

* Fox Searchlight Pictures purchased the film at Sundance for $500,000.

* In limited release, it has already earned nearly $5 million worldwide.



Transformers
Saturday, I caught Transformers, which made more money in one hour than I probably will my entire working life. Yes, the effects are truly amazing, and yes, I laughed at moments that weren't supposed to be funny. Gratuitous cleavage (see photo below), bare midriffs and corny dialogue were abundant. But all in all, it was a fun summer flick, especially if you see it sharing a whole theater row with your best friends.

Still, the film was nearly over-
shadowed by one of the previews, a clip that was so mysterious, it created a huge buzz on the Internet. All we know is JJ Abrams has something to do with it, and it's coming out on Jan. 18, 2008.

Some Web sites are referring to it as Cloverfield or The Parasite. I won't pretend to know more than that, but I am officially hooked and anxiously awaiting more details. One good place to look -- the film's official Web site, 1-18-08.com. There's not much there now, but I bet there will be soon.