Friday Night Double Feature: Irish Music Lovin' Rockin' Double Feature

We’ve already done the super-hero themed Double Feature to death this summer, so with Hancock being this week’s only real theatrical entry, I wasn’t looking forward to coming up with another double feature to tie into that. Nobody prominent died this week (thankfully), so there was no need for another “in memory” double feature. And sure, there’s that whole Fourth of July thing going on here in the States, but most of the movies that work for that feature Will Smith, which returns me to my initial argument that I didn’t really want to do that.

Thankfully, an idea for a Double Feature hit me on my recent trip to LA, when I finally caught up with a move I’ve had from Netflix for months. These may not be guilty pleasures and they may not tie into current pop culture events, but this is probably one of my favorite Double Features in recent memory. Be warned, neither film has the picturesque “happy ending,” so you might want some Kleenex nearby, but these are two films that match thematically and even share an actor. Here’s your Irish Music Lovin’ Rockin’ Double Feature.

The Commitments

I’ve been a big fan of The Commitments for a while now. What’s not to like. You have an Irish band that gets together and decides to play soul music. Because filmmaker Alan Parker decided to bring in musicians instead of actors, the resulting music is better than most of the things you hear on American Idol or from modern day “musicians” who are more interested in fame. The music is just the icing on the cake though, because The Commitments carries a fantastic story of the struggles a band goes through, dealing with egos, creative conflicts, and, eventually, the possibility of their own success. The movie was introduced to me by a real musician, and I always get the feeling he saw more in this movie that easily could have come from his own musical trials and tribulations.

Once

Originally I planned this Double Feature because of the Irish musicians shared by the two movies. I didn’t realize until later that the lead in Once (appropriately given the simple moniker of “guy”), Glen Hansard, was the guitarist for The Commitments. Here you have a different story of a musician trying to make it. Instead of dealing with conflicts within a band, you have a character undone by his own insecurity, until the day he’s finally inspired to give his career a real try. That inspiration comes in the form of “Girl” Marketa Irglova, and the music the two of them make is beyond beautiful. There’s no surprise that the duo eventually became a real couple because of how strong the chemistry between them is here. But everything on screen in Once is there to serve the music, which is the real heart, soul, and core of the film. There’s a reason this picture, which few people heard of, wound up winning Best Original Song in 2007 and if you haven’t checked this one out you owe it to yourself to rent it today!

Not Irish, but still rockin’: That Thing You Do, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Walk the Line, Rock Star, This is Spinal Tap

Enjoy our Double Feature suggestions? and maybe we’ll use them in a future column.