Zonad (2009)
Why, John Carney, why? It is very difficult to believe that the man who had already brought us the subtle winner "Once" and will later give us the musical delights "Begin Again" & "Sing Street" also directed this. Yes. In the beginning, there was "Zonad". (It actually began as the never released 2003 short.)
It could have been endearing. It could have actually been a science fiction film. It could have been a romantic comedy that actually worked. Instead, it was an unsophisticated travesty comedy in which two alcoholics, Liam and Francis, escape a treatment center and fool an entire Irish town into believing they are Zonad and Bonad, visitors from another planet This is based almost entirely on the use of some bright vinyl material and a helmet. At first, I thought Zonad's staccato speech pattern was his lame attempt at trying to sound foreign. Then, when I saw all the other poor acting performances, some of which had weird speech patterns as well, I began to think it was merely poor acting. Then, towards the end when he started to talk more regularly when he was not incognito, I switched back to my original understanding. At the conclusion of the film, I was more confused than ever because he seemed to do it to varying degrees whether or not he was posing as an intergalactic traveler.
The Good: * Indicatively, the best and most memorable minutes of this film were the two musical numbers performed by Zonad. The first, a solo he sings (accompanied by piano keyboard) in front of the girls in Ballymoran, "Mysterious Girl". The second, the closing scene in the town bar, "I'm Sorry".
* There were some funny moment and one-liners, though they were few and far between.
The Bad: * Not believable in the least.
* Very few actually humorous moments. Compared to the rest of the film that was inundated with failed attempts at such, one would be logically led to believe that the moments that worked could be attributed to pure chance.
The Ugly: *The acting. All around. Nothing else to be said. Excruciatingly bad.
*Sans a few rare scenes, not really fun to watch; but, even worse, not even an anecdotal lesson to compensate. The main character collects free alcohol, food, and rent, taking advantage of not only the Cassidys but the entire town. His escaped alcoholic center companion preys on all the women in the city. Then they are found out and forced to leave. The end.
You can see his Carney's quirky personality in "Zonad", but executed tragically. The director and writers' genius lies in the beautiful marriage between film, music, and romantic stories. This marriage was a blind mess. Gratefully, I watched Carney's other films first. Otherwise I doubt I ever would have been granted the opportunity to fall in love with his oeuvre.
