More valuable than Oscar

Falling Slowly, a song by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, may not be eligible for the Oscar as the best original song, because it was not written specifically for the film Once. It sure is a pity not to get the Academy Award, but it is nothing Hansard and Irglová should be upset with, considering their spectacular and unexpected success. After all, Irglová herself said it was a miracle their song had made it to the final shortlist.

In relation to the top film contest, Czech press has adopted a terrible expression, „Oscar battle“. Those who do not know what the competition is about (if anyone like that still exists) must think it is a fight between armoured riders trying to push each other off the horse saddle with heavy weapons. However, the original concept behind the competition was not a fight but filmmakers' effort to attract world media to the film industry. The case of The Frames is an opportunity to highlight this fact.

Hansard and Irglová met accidentally and their voices and personalities blended in a chemical reaction which is rare in the media world and usually does not last as the related experience is rather intimate. These two are not original in any respect, and they are always a single step away from sentimentality. Their voices are not the clearest, their lyrics are not the most interesting, and they are not the world's best guitar and piano…