Once (John Carney, 2007)

Message

#1 Post by **Jeff** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 11:33 am

Anybody else see this yet? I'm almost ashamed of how much I enjoyed it. It's virtually plotless, and the cinematography could best be described as low-fi. The music is great, and as many critics have pointed out, it resembles Before Sunrise in a number of ways. Highly recommended.

hangthadj · #2 Post by **hangthadj** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 3:05 pm

I'm not even gonna be ashamed of how much I loved this film.

There was no point where it hit a false emotional note for me. I imagine I will be seeing it again in the theater just cause I can't imagine waiting for the DVD.

exte · #3 Post by **exte** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 6:42 pm

I just saw this film yesterday and it blew me away. I was so moved by the end... I implore everyone on the board to go see this film. Please do. I doubt you will regret it. Thanks.

Here's the website.

Can anyone help? I'm trying to find out about how they shot the film, their post process, everything. The website doesn't have much about that. Thanks.

#4 Post by **cdnchris** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 7:06 pm

I bought my wife the soundtrack. It's actually quite a good soundtrack and recommend that to everyone if they're not going to make it to this film. We'll be seeing it at some point.

exte · #5 Post by **exte** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 10:53 pm

The film was made for $130,000 euros, most of which was paid for by the Irish Film Board, in seventeen days on the streets of Dublin in January, 2006.

"...it was DV and it was hand-held and naturalistic, and f*ck the actors, let's not use actors in this one."

It turns out, Cillian Murphy dropped out after not wanting to risk working with Marketa Irglova, a non-actor.

Film festivals in Toronto and elsewhere initially rejected it, but a scout for Sundance saw it at a festival in Galway.

The film was picked up for $500K by Fox Searchlight Pictures.

hangthadj · #6 Post by **hangthadj** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 12:09 am

exte wrote:I just saw this film yesterday and it blew me away. I was so moved by the end... I implore everyone on the board to go see this film. Please do. I doubt you will regret it. Thanks.

Here's the website.

Can anyone help? I'm trying to find out about how they shot the film, their post process, everything. The website doesn't have much about that. Thanks.

There is a good article/interview in Filmaker Mag with both Director John Carney and Glen Hansard. Interesting to me in the article was their slightly differing views of the ending.

exte · #7 Post by **exte** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:54 pm

No one else has seen it yet? GO SEE THIS F*CKING FILM!!

sherlockjr · #8 Post by **sherlockjr** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 12:01 am

Would love to, but it isn't playing anywhere in the area. It must have a limited release.

Barmy · #9 Post by **Barmy** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 2:06 pm

There is simply no excuse for presenting unwatchably shitey video as a film. This is one of the ugliest movies I have ever seen. There are 2 OK songs (the ones in the trailer); all the songs are whiney angsty singer-songwriter mope-pop. I liked the ending.

margot · #10 Post by **margot** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:56 pm

I saw it and loved it but fell asleep near the end (not because I was bored or anything, just REALLY tired)

I thought it was very well made, and I got the soundtracks shortly after I left the theater. It is a bit hard to understand what they are saying sometimes.

#11 Post by **Jeff** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 11:47 am

exte wrote:I'm trying to find out about how they shot the film, their post process, everything. The website doesn't have much about that. Thanks.

Here is a great podcast from Creative Screenwriting that includes interviews with Carney and Hansard about the genesis of the film and a performance of three of the best tunes by Hansard and Irglova, with Carney on bass.

ellipsis7 · #12 Post by **ellipsis7** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 1:16 pm

They shot it with between 2 and 3 cameras simultaneously, DOP Tim Fleming, director John Carney and the Cam Asst operating and recording to DV... Very small crew, guerrilla style shooting, little lighting, bare bones production... Objective was to evoke classic Hollywood musicals, of which Carney is a fan... Visual framing was for performance rather than aesthetics, and sound was recorded live presenting nightmares for the Recordist.... Budget was about $150K for the shoot, editing and mastering up to a 35 mm festival showprint... Aim was to bypass normal modes of financing and production, although Carney already has feature directorial credits to his name, including one budgeted at several million dollars... Money from Irish Film Board, Tax break Section 481 and a little from Irish broadcaster RTE... It premiered at Galway Film Fleadh in July 2006, projected from DVD, was spotted by attending Sundance selector John Nein, and invited after further process to Sundance 2007, having actually been turned down by London, Edinburgh and I think Toronto.... There Hansard and Irglova played live at the screenings, and with sales handled by Summit Entertainment, it picked up the Audience Award, strong critical review (Kenneth Turan @ LA Times etc)and good industry buzz... Fox Searchlight (Acquisitions VP Tony Safford)subsequently picked it up for North America for its current highly succesful niche release... Something like the budget again had to be spent in remixing the soundtrack, preparing the elements, making internnegs etc... Carney presented himself as a new discovery, and to date its made nearly $3.85m at US B.O...

carax09 · #13 Post by **carax09** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 10:00 am

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we were actually seeing the birth of a mini-movement toward what Godard referred to as the "neorealist musical"? Check this out. Could these be the spiritual grandchildren of I Love Melvin (which David is currently defending in the "Darlings" thread. I, for one, certainly hope so!

ellipsis7 · #14 Post by **ellipsis7** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 7:43 am

From Variety -

'Once' upon a time
How to make a movie on a shoestring budget
By JON WEISMAN
John Carney talks about making 'Once' on a shoestring budget.

A year to the day after "Once" premiered at Ireland's Galway Film Fleadh, writer-director John Carney was trying to explain how he pulled it off.
How did he turn E130,000 (approximately $160,000 at the time) into a film that has earned more than $5 million in U.S. release? How did he parlay an average filmmaker's tip money into a contender for Oscar recognition and what looks to be an Independent Film Awards player in several categories?

The short answer: Economy-class filmmaking was familiar territory.

"In a way, it appears like a first-time film," Carney said while making a roadside dinner stop on the way back to Galway to attend this year's fest, "but actually I had done stuff before, so I knew the ropes. I knew what mistakes could happen. If I had a crane one day, I knew I could get three or four shots out of that.

"I kind of learned how to work on a small budget and how to get performances out of non-actors, so I guess I knew 'Once' wasn't a million miles off what I had done before."

When Carney began conceiving "Once," a story about a street musician inspired by a gifted Czech immigrant to seek greater things, he and songwriter/lead actor Glen Hansard recognized they could apply for E100,000 in funding from the Irish Film Board. But except for a brief period in which actor Cillian Murphy ("Batman Begins") looked like he might take on the lead role -- which might have meant financing upwards of E3 million -- they couldn't count on much more.

For both aesthetic and pragmatic reasons, they embraced their impending filmmaking poverty.

"Very early on in this process, Glen and I said to each other, 'Let's keep the budget fairly low on this film," said Carney, who played bass guitar in Hansard's band, the Frames, from 1991-93 before turning to filmmaking.

To help round out the budget for his 17-day shoot, Carney threw in some scraps from his own bank account while also deferring his own pay, allocating it to Hansard and co-star Marketa Irglova (in her first acting role), with the promise of back-end rewards for all if the film performed well.

No money went up front for the songs written by Hansard and Irglova that have been integral to the film's success. Filming took place on the street and at friends' houses using natural light. Most importantly, low-budget didn't mean low-experience.

"Everybody was putting all they've learned over the years into those 17 days," said Carney, who completed his first film more than a decade ago before co-creating the successful Irish TV series "Bachelors Walk."

Ultimately, Carney believes that the tight funding became an asset to the film.

"I think I would have just tried to make it look the way it does look (even with a higher budget)," he said. "I think basically what I would have learned very quickly is I want this film to look like (we) made it for nothing.

"You see that all the time. The guy has money but he's shaking the camera to make it look like he doesn't. Actually, the reason the camera is shaking (in 'Once') was because we couldn't afford tripods."

The widely appreciated quality of the film took over from there. A Sundance Film Festival scout saw "Once" at Galway and pushed for it to come to Utah for the January 2007 fest, where it won the world cinema audience award. Summit Entertainment locked up worldwide distribution rights (excluding Ireland), then sold the North American portion to Fox Searchlight, reportedly for less than $1 million. (Fox Searchlight will boost promotion of the film to press in Los Angeles up an octave at the end of this month, bringing Hansard and Irglova to perform following an evening screening.)

The film's relative runaway success all but ensured that Carney would have more money to work with on his next project (announced earlier this week as "Town House," a Fox 2000 studio pic set to begin production in January). And though he laughed at first about the prospect of being flush with cash -- "I think that I can handle that" -- his innate prudence kicked in.

"At the end of the day," he said, "even if I do have money, I am going to have to be careful with how I spend it."

Barmy · #15 Post by **Barmy** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 10:50 am

"Contender for Oscar recognition." lol

#16 Post by **Jeff** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 12:24 pm

Barmy wrote:"Contender for Oscar recognition." lol

I don't think that they are talking "Best Picture" here, but Once has a very good shot at nabbing at least one of the "Best Original Song" slots. Something like that would raise its profile considerably when it hits DVD. My bet for recognition would be "Falling Slowly."

Barmy · #17 Post by **Barmy** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 3:58 pm

Oops, I forgot about best song (as most people do).

ellipsis7 · #18 Post by **ellipsis7** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 4:04 pm

"For your Consideration"?!...

Antoine Doinel · #19 Post by **Antoine Doinel** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 5:31 pm

Caught this this afternoon and unfortunately I'm unable to join the throng singing the film's praises. While it is by no means a bad film, whether or not you enjoy the film will be highly dependent on if you enjoy the songs. To me, the songs where very mediocre, generic Coldplay-esque tunes. They didn't resonate enough with the relationship developing onscreen or in the characters lives. Moreover, the film is easily about ten minutes too long and seems to end a few times at the end trying to reach a ninety minute film length.

All that said, the lead performances are thankfully quirk free and sincere. There are some lovely moments, but I almost wish there were less songs are more character/plot development.

For anyone who hasn't seen the film, I would say check out the songs first. If you like the songs, you will definitely love the film.

dadaistnun · #20 Post by **dadaistnun** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 3:57 pm

Saw this today, going in somewhat wary of all the exceedingly high praise it has received but goddamnit...I loved it.

For anyone who hasn't seen the film, I would say check out the songs first. If you like the songs, you will definitely love the film.

I had heard bits of a few of the songs in television commercials & what not (never saw the trailer) and had been, if not underwhelmed, just neither here nor there about them. I think they work wonderfully in the movie & will probably end up picking up the soundtrack.

exte · #21 Post by **exte** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 3:12 pm

Steven Spielberg said Monday, "A little movie called Once gave me enough inspiration to last the rest of the year." Also, the duo were asked to do a cover version of Dylan's You Ain't Goin' Nowhere for the soundtrack of I'm Not There. Article here...

Barmy · #22 Post by **Barmy** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 3:30 pm

I guess that's why he's making Indy 4.

Saarijas · #23 Post by **Saarijas** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 6:52 pm

I just saw this, and really I was shocked at how much I loved this movie. I read a review of it that called it a "little film with a big heart" and I can't agree more. Truly I think I was so attracted because I liked the music, and that it didn't even hint at melodrama once. Just a very pure simple story, which works so perfectly. But I could definitely see that anyone who doesn't like the songs not liking the movie, since they are so profuse.

dadaistnun · #24 Post by **dadaistnun** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 11:38 am

Jeff wrote:
Barmy wrote:"Contender for Oscar recognition." lol

I don't think that they are talking "Best Picture" here, but Once has a very good shot at nabbing at least one of the "Best Original Song" slots. Something like that would raise its profile considerably when it hits DVD. My bet for recognition would be "Falling Slowly."

Hansard & Irglova released an album as The Swell Season in 2006 with several songs that ended up in Once: "Falling Slowly," "Lies," "Leave," and "When Your Mind's Made Up." By Academy rules, I believe those are ineligible.

#25 Post by **Jeff** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 5:03 pm

dadaistnun wrote:Hansard & Irglova released an album as The Swell Season in 2006 with several songs that ended up in Once: "Falling Slowly," "Lies," "Leave," and "When Your Mind's Made Up." By Academy rules, I believe those are ineligible.

Normally they would be considered ineligible, but it is my understanding that those songs were composed specifically for the film. It just took so long for the film to get finished and released that the CD made it out first.