"The Swell Season" is not an overture to autumn, but the name of a singing duo — he's Irish, she's Czech — and a film about their adventures in the folk-rock world. It opens tomorrow as part of the Webster University Film Series, and like all movies about performers, if you like the group, you'll like the movie. The vice, of course, is versa.
Glen Hansard and Markata Irglova are the two young singers, and the name comes from a Czech novel that happens to be a favorite of Hansard's, who first made his name as a member of a group called the Frames, which is no stranger than the Swell Season. Hansard and Irglova also won an Academy Award in 2008 for their song, "Falling Slowly," from the film, "Once," that seems to be based on the beginning of their relationship.
They still are working together, living together, swimming in the ocean together, but the relationship is struggling. She is bothered by his desire for dominance in much that they do, and she wants some freedom. Some of this is shown in the movie itself. Much time is spent with his parents, a blowsy blonde mother who was at the Oscar ceremonies and who sees it as the high point of her life. His father, a moon-faced alcoholic, talks a lot but says little.
As a folk song fan a long time ago, I liked much of the music, except when Hansard lands on the loud and screechy side of the music stand. Some of his ballads are enjoyable, and the two of them show off some charming harmonies.
The Swell Season opens at 7:30 p.m. today in the Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster University campus and continues through Sunday.
—Joe