The Swell Season (2012)

An absolute waste of money

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Blistering performances.

This is a black and white documentary about Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová's world wind tour after the Oscars for "Once". I have to admit that "Once" is one of my favorite movies. And in this film, we're given a backstage pass into their lives. Only there's something wrong. It's not the perfunctory concert movie. There seems to be a distance in the much described love affair between the couple.The first half goes on without much tension. It's a rather slow movie. But then we start to see some of the problems emerging. There are some insights into the pressure and tension building inside the relationship. It's not a happy watch by all means, and everybody should be aware of it.

First, full disclosure. I am friends with two of the filmmakers--Chris Dapkins and Carlo Mirabella-Davis--and their parents. In fact, Chris Dapkins grew up a mile and a half down the road, which in our part of rural upstate New York made us the equivalent of next-door neighbors.So I was prepared to like The Swell Season. But to be stunned by it? Though I am no longer a fan of pop music, I sat absolutely riveted through every frame of this extraordinary story of two performers on tour in public and private. The choice of black and white photography was just right, and the filmmakers let their narrative unfold in a straightforward fashion without adornment or visual gimmicks.I loved the music by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, and ached at the sad poignancy of their gradual breakup. Their doomed romance took me back to that brief but legendary love affair between Joan Baez and Bob Dylan in those younger days in the 1960s when I cared deeply about such public matters of the heart.Ron Bailey, author and retired journalist

This is not just another concert tour movie (although fans will find plenty to satisfy), but a many layered film about sudden notoriety, artistic passion and how the protagonists (Glen and Marketa , already known to us from the film Once and their music) handle it all. The Swell Season takes a unique approach to the music doc category, turning it around so that it feels like fiction, unfolding a narrative that traces the arc of a relationship. Often it offers glimpses (as in scenes with glen's parents] at what makes these two, glen especially, tick. The concert footage mostly avoids the long view of the stage and pans of the audience; instead, it stays inside the band, up close and personal. Last, but definitely not least, it is beautifully shot in burnished black and white.

The film nominally covers the duo's tour across the world and the US after the Oscarwin during which we watch how the pair falls in and out of love.The film was shot in a moody black and white that looks great. The music is wonderful. The film itself is okay.The trouble is it's clear that not everything that happened during the time frame covered by the film was recorded. There are time periods where there was no coverage and we have to go on references (there seems to be vast passage of time where Glen's dad dies, but we don't have any sense of it). It's also plain to see that Marketa Irglova didn't really want to be on camera so at times the film comes off as the Glen Hansard show.It's not uninteresting but if you are a fan of the pair odds are you won't have any surprises. I liked the music but felt there was no point to it since there is nothing really new here.The film is worth a look if you like the pair, but I would wait cable or Netflix. On the other hand the final number before the end credits of Glenn playing Say it to Me Now at Radio City Music Hall is almost a good enough reason on it's own to see this on a big screen (It's one of those this is why I go to the movie moments we get so rarely these days).