DVD
REVIEW: THE SWELL SEASON
3/11/12
OVERVIEW:
Singer-songwriters Glen Hansard (The Commitments) and Markéta Irglová were catapulted into the spotlight when they won the 2007 Oscar® for Best Original Song (“Falling Slowly”). The world fell in love with them as the two musicians fell in love with each other. But behind the scenes, where Glen and Markéta’s on-screen romance became reality, a grueling two-year world tour threatened to fracture their fated bond. THE SWELL SEASON, directed by Nick August-Perna, Chris Dapkins, and Carlo Mirabella-Davis, is a story of lovers, the burden of dreams, dark family legacies, and in the end, the eternal bond between two searching souls forever linked by their
music.
In 2005, Hansard, the lead singer of The Frames, and Irglova recorded an album together in Prague while working together on the soundtrack of Jan Hrebejk’s movie, Beauty In Trouble. Their first album together, “The Swell Season,” was released in April 2006 and was partially the inspiration for John Carney’s 2007 Irish indie film, Once. The pair not only wrote the songs for the movie but starred in it as well. Since then, Glen and Marketa toured extensively as The Swell Season and, in 2009, released a new album, “Strict
Joy.”
THE SWELL SEASON follows the two artists through a period of extraordinary post-Oscar® intensity and pressure while on tour. Their experiences during this time drive both musicians to question their ambitions, identities and, ultimately, their
relationship.
From the directors: “We had always wanted THE SWELL SEASON to stand alone as an intensely personal film. We also knew that to do this right we would need complete access and unlimited time. To their credit, Glen and Markéta were brave enough to agree to both, and so we began what turned into a three-year filmmaking odyssey. From the outset we wanted to forge a strong visual language based on a verité, fly on the wall approach. And since Once was a fiction film leaning towards documentary, we designed our documentary to tack towards a classic fiction film
language.”
Glen and Markéta now actively tour as solo artists and the film Once lives on in a new musical opening on Broadway in March. Gorgeously filmed in black and white and overflowing with live music and performances, THE SWELL SEASON is an intimate look at the exhilaration and turmoil created by both love and fame. The film premiered at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival and was the opening night film at Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival, followed by several other film festivals and a critically-praised U.S. theatrical debut in October 2011.
VIDEO:
Widescreen
AUDIO:
English
2.0 Dolby Digital Surround Sound
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Deleted scenes
Extended live concert footage.
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