Movie Marathon

On Friday night, a friend and I headed down to the Lower East Side to the Landmark Sunshine Cinema , and settled ourselves in for a night movies (well, I'm not sure if two flicks qualify as a "night of movies," but four hours is a long time to spend in one theater!). Sore behinds and cramped legs aside, it was probably the most delightful Friday night I have had in New York in a long time. We saw Paris, je t'aime and Once. I loved Paris, but my heart was stolen by Once. It is difficult to put into words why this film is so amazing. It is a story of two musicians who meet on the streets of Dublin and begin a relationship of writing and collaboration. As a musician, of course I found it to be very relatable and inspiring. But more than that, it is just incredibly raw and real and touching -- which makes sense considering the two leads, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglová are actually musicians, not actors, who really did meet in the Czech Republic a few years ago and began collaborating and performing together. As I said, it is difficult to put into words why it affected me so much, but it was similar to my reaction to Garden State. In both cases, I left the theater feeling inspired, sad, nostalgic, fulfilled, hopeful, etc., without really even knowing why. And have I mentioned the music? Absolutely beautiful. KW and I headed straight to Virgin Records after leaving the theater and picked up a copy of the soundtrack. And I can't stop listening to it...