After `Once,' director switches to comic `Zonad'

NEW YORK – No one can claim that John Carney, the Irish director of the bare-bones, busker romance "Once," is trying to repeat himself.

His new film, co-directed and co-written with his brother Keiran Carney, is about an overweight drunk who, in 1950s Ireland, escapes a rehabilitation center in a red vinyl spaceman outfit. He lands in a small town whose residents cheerfully accept him as an intergalactic traveler and treat him like a magical hero.

At Tribeca, it's been the film most likely to inspire baffled "what-is-this?" double-takes, usually followed by hearty, surprised laughter.

Told straightforwardly like a drama, and shot in an approximation of `50s Technicolor, its absurdity becomes clear right around the time Zonad (Simon Delaney) makes a class of high school girls swoon by picking up a guitar and performing a polished disco tune.

"That's scene where you go, `OK, all pretense of this being a logical film are now gone,'" says John.

When asked to describe the movie by those who haven't seen it, Keiran often shrugs and simply suggests its nuttier than squirrel poop — though that isn't the word he used. The brothers compare it to John Ford's 1952 Ireland-set film "The Quiet Man" by way of Mel Brooks.

It's far from the kind of follow-up typically expected of a hit like "Once," the roundly acclaimed 2006 film that, on a meager budget, earned $9.4 million at the U.S. box-office and won a best song Oscar for its stars, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.

The Carney brothers came up with "Zonad" long before that film. They sketched it out almost a decade ago and in 2003 made a rough version that costarred their friend Cillian Murphy — who has since become a famous actor.

Keiran recalls a few years ago taking a train back to Dublin from Galway with Murphy and David Pearse (who plays Zonad's friend and fake superhero rival "Bonad" in the film), "and all we spoke about on this two-and-a-half hour train journey was `Zonad,'" he recalls.

"It just made me think that, actually, it was a really good project if we were still talking about it years later," says Keiran. "It was trying to make something that's not generic."

At a festival like Tribeca, where 85 films are showcased, an oddity like "Zonad" was all the more a surprise, lined up alongside serious dramas and meaningful documentaries.

The film has received mostly good reviews. Variety said it "carried with it the sweet smell of a cult hit," and The New York Times said it "deserves wider attention."

Wide theatrical distribution for surreal Irish comedies set in the `50s isn't exactly the norm, though. John — who is writing a script for Judd Apatow and will later this year direct a more mainstream film, "Town House," starring Amy Adams and Zach Galifianakis — says they've received interest from distributors but have no deal yet.

However many moviegoers initially see "Zonad," it seems destined for cult adoration and raucous midnight screenings.

"It could be very pleasant to have as sort of a slow-burning thing that builds up over time," says John. "I don't feel any rush with this film. I'm quite happy for it to have a sort of longer shelf life."