"Nick and Norah" vs. "Once" vs. "I'm Not There"

I recently re-watched all these and in doing so I noticed that each has a certain "je ne sais quoi" about them. For a brief moment I even "Once" consider that to be my favorite of the three.

Nick and Norah's Infiinite Playlist
This movie is the favorite, in large part because it has arguable the best of the soundtracks. We all know I love indie rock and this movie may have the best soundtrack I have ever heard. Plus the story is very funny and at times ridiculous. While a movie about people swriling around each other ending in romance it never really gets sappy at all. And the gum bit is grossly hilarious if you follow it.

I'm Not There
The Bob Dylan biopic. Featuring about a dozen people playing him at various points, possibly gets second because of how passable Cate Blanchett is as a man. I love Bob Dylan's work, not as much as Woody Guthrie. Guthrie basically invented anything considered "folk" or "Americana" and solely defines a generation and era of the great depression, plus his guitar "kills fascists" which is pretty damn impressive. So the story is so captivating. The soundtrack is somewhat lackluster, and contains far too much Calexico for my taste since a little goes a long way. Iit does have some serious heavy hitters and is a two disc affair.

Once
I love me some Irish music. Glen Hansard is kind of a genius and Marketa aint bad either. The soundtrack is pretty fucking awesome, especially "Falling Slowly" (he won an Oscar for it) and "Broken Hearted Hoover Sucker Fixer Guy", which reminds me of the songs from "Death To Smoochy". Mellow Irish/Czech fusion indie with just a touch of longing in the heart, brilliant. But, to be perfectly honest the movie isn't that inspiring. It is kind of a huge downer, and neither is a particularly good actor. I would have much preferred them use really actors and then fake the songs.


Last in listening to music for Friday's show (Sam Lowry this time, man is a broody genius), I was thinking about how there is no real Americana movie. Walk the Line, only kind of counts since Johnny Cash had strong gospel and country inclinations. Sure he was dark enough, but that is just not enough for a man like me. Someone should fix this. Also, I think I might just watch "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" tomorrow....