The Swell Season
- Genre: Documentary
- Directors: Nick August-Perna, Chris Dapkins, Carlo Mirabella-Davis
- Stars: Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova
- Rate: ** 1/2
The triumphant Oscar acceptance speech that introduced the world to Falling Slowly songwriters Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova is not the climax of The Swell Season but rather a beginning: this ragged black-and-white documentary examines what happened after the unexpected breakthrough of the 2008 indie musical-romance Once.
Lifelong friends and former lovers despite their near-30-year age disparity, Hansard and Irglova cling together and drift apart during a concert tour capitalizing on Once’s success; the film is intimately observed but suffers from an absence of compelling drama.
The subjects are ultimately just too nice.
