New Movies, New Inspiration

Finally got out there and saw Persepolis. It was everything I'd hoped for and then some. It'd been a while since I read the books, and some of the story was kinda thinned out in my memory. So it was refreshing to see this again and in a wholly different format. I'd have to say, and I may regret saying this, but the film was more powerful to me than the books. Maybe it was the sound put to the image or the visual depth and texture added to the film that wasn't there in the drawings on the pages of the books. I don't know. But I was really overwhelmed. It was very touching, upsetting, and funny at the same time.



Julie and I also saw another really cool one this weekend. ONCE. I added this to the Netflix queue when I read that one of the actor/musicians in this musical film, Glen Hansard, and his band The Frames, were the opening act on a recent tour with Bob Dylan (hand-picked, even, by Dylan himself). I know, enough with my Dylan dorkiness already, but whatever. The story of ONCE is a very simple and relatively quick one (clocks in around an hour and 20 minutes) but it doesn't feel it. It's really emotional. I'd seen clips of this online and on TV before and thought "eh" but it's incredibly moving in the full context of the film. Hansard and his counterpart Marketa Irglova are brilliant singers/songwriters. It makes your heart burst when you see these isolated and lonesome souls connect through their music and songwriting. Heart burst. I had a lump in my throat right from one of the opening scenes when Hansard's street busker's blasting out his "Say It To Me Now" on the cold, dark, lonesome streets of Dublin. Dang.

Maybe I'm just getting wimpy in my old age.