The best musical of 2007 wasn’t Hairspray, Sweeney Todd, or even Enchanted. It was a little movie called Once, which almost none of you saw because it was only in two theaters for about two minutes. It’s a heart-breakingly hypnotic film, a musical that’s actually about music, and not about choreographed line-dancing, of which there is none. It also contains a beautiful little tune called “Falling Slowly” which ought to be a shoe-in as the Academy Awards’ selection for Best Original Song. The Academy has no excuse, since they all received copies of it on screeners and have therefore all been exposed to its greatness.
One problem though. “Falling Slowly” may not even be an option for Oscar voters. The Carpetbagger blog over at the New York Times reports that the tune may be about to join a growing list of great music which the Academy is disqualifying from contention. Already on that list is all of the amazing Eddie Vedder music from Into The Wild, and now the music from Once may be about to get the axe.
It’s not entirely clear at this point why “Falling Slowly” may be disqualified, but there’s speculation that the songs in the movie weren’t originally written for this movie, or that they may have been written for another movie which was never made. In some weird way this could disqualify it from original song. If you’ve seen the movie though, that makes sense. Once feels as if it is a movie written to explain a soundtrack, as if the music always existed, and the film is about how two people come together, intertwine with one another, and create that beautiful music together. It’s as if the film is an explanation of the music it contains, and that’s a big part of what makes it so entrancing and utterly unique. If that’s really why they’re disqualifying it… well that sucks. The Academy either needs another category for music like this, or Once needs an exception.
Even if you haven’t see Once yet, start up your iTunes and purchase the soundtrack. Blind buy it, you won't regret it. Digging up this story reminded me of just how much I wanted it, and so "Falling Slowly" is wafting gently out of my speakers right now. It gets better every time I hear it.
UPDATE! The Academy has ruled on this issue. Get their answer here.
