Once

Went to the premier of this with good ol' Ro Ro O'Dea last night at the Savoy. Such a lovely film - it's heartwarming, sweet and beautiful, I'd definitely recommend it. The only thing you could criticise it for is it is a bit of a Glen Hansard love in - half of it is music (in fact, there's nearly as much music as there is dialogue - hello Dreamgirls!), and some of the scenes are a bit twee - like when the two characters are working out harmonies on guitar and piano for 'Falling Slowly' in Waltons, it's all a bit Crossroads. I was kind of waiting for Glen to burst into 'I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman'. BUT, it's great all the same.

After the screening, John Carney introduced Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova to the stage and they sung a beautiful version of 'Falling Slowly'. The best song in the film is 'When Your Minds Made Up' - there's a scene where they sing it in studio and it really is just spine tingling. I think 'Once' will go down better with audiences who aren't familiar with Glen / The Frames, because naturally, everyone who is has lots of preconceptions (and indeed prejudices) about him, the music and so on.

Right now I'm in Dublin Airport - sorry, did I say 'Airport', I meant to say a collection of prefabs stuck onto a knackered old building on the northside. In an hour or so, I shall be in Manchester, and this evening, I will watch Man Utd beat the REST OF THE WORLD at Old Trafford, mwoahaha.

Byesies!

Una