The Swell Season

Boy busks. Meets girl. Makes amazing music. Wins an Oscar. This may sound like the plot to Once (except the whole Oscar part), but this is Glen Hansard's reality. While most of the songs were previously written for Hansard's band the Frames and his Swell Season project with Marketa Irglova, their fit to the film is seamless. Hansard and Irglova are each other's muse, bringing together crescendos that boom with lyrics that ache, hitting anyone rooting for the underdog right on the sweet spot. "Falling Slowly" won an Academy Award for Best Song, but listen to the rest; it's all brilliant.

A breakout film at this year's Sundance Film Festival, this quirky comedy stars the Frames'
Glen Hansard as a Dublin busker looking for love and a record deal. Thanks to his soulful
wail, cuts like the excellent "Trying to Pull Myself Away" and "Leave" have a solid
roots-rock magnetism. But Hansard's weepy duets with co-star Marketa Irglova ("Falling
Slowly," "If You Want Me") just kind of drift along like Coldplay at their worst.