Just a quick note; this film isn’t out yet, but it did well at Sundance, and got a distributor, and you should keep your eyes peeled for it at festivals or art-houses. It’s called Once and it’s set in Dublin, and it’s remarkably well acted by Irish singer Glenn Hansard of the Frames and Markéta Irglová, a Czech singer. The music can sometimes go on a bit too long (they play songs for each other in real time), but it’s remarkably well acted and written, with an ending neither sappy nor crushing. And a small plug as well. The Frames’ new album is just out, called The Cost, and is much more available than this movie is currently. I think most people here except Arnab would enjoy it.

Look Both Ways is a rather good Australian movie about cancer, loneliness, uncontrollable thoughts, mortality, coping, smoking, children, purpose and family. Maybe it’s about more than that too, but it’s a good start. I’m eager to give the benefit of the doubt to any movie that tries to deal with dying, esp. when it’s both the person dying and the people left behind. I really admired The Barbarian Invasions for that reason. This doesn’t get nearly as deep and full of itself as that one; it just wouldn’t be Australian as if it did.

One characer is diagnosed with testicular cancer straight off, and another imagines scenes of her own demise around every corner. Do they meet and fall in love? Well, yeah. Nothing earth-shattering there, but the characters are believeable and try to do the right things, difficult as that may be. It’s too sappy and there’s a tendency to break into montage with some Damien Rice-esque Australian singer-songwriter strumming a tune far too often. But I give a lot of respect to the writer-director here anyway, Sarah Watt, who is primarily an animator. This is her first live-action film.

Dominion however, hoo boy. (more…)