Once -- Movie Review

Once

Starring no one you’ve ever heard of before.

Wondering if you really want to see this Irish Indie treasure? Here’s a concise review recently emailed from a friend, “no blood, no guts, no explosions, no dismemberments.” If you’re still with me, you will find this bittersweet and tender gem of a musical-love story genuinely haunting. But now what is, I, TLC’s queen of the documentary, the who cower in fear of those cerebral international movies that need to be read and those gritty introspective independent movies that seem, to me, little more ostentatious ego-babbling, doing falling in love with a musical and a romance (Bleech.)? Well, the truth is, Once (DV4731)is its own kind of musical and love story -- breaking the mold and defying expectations on both counts. As a warning, and this is no spoiler, Once is not the usual Bollywood / Hollywood offering, with hunky and bodacious stars breaking into song at the slightest of provocations, nor is it the common “happily ever after” unreal fairy tale -- although the film is happy from beginning to end.

Set in Dublin, Once introduces a struggling but talented street musician (Guy) who performs for the indifferent and rarely tipping crowds on Grafton St. He seems invisible to all except thieves and a blunt young Czech woman (Girl) who extracts from him the story of abandonment and heartache behind his lyrics. Mirroring the mundane found in life, he fixes her vacuum cleaner, his day job in his father’s shop. She rejects his awkward pass. What grows between them is not the hand in hand into the sunset story, but it is the creative partnership between two gifted people finding a shared voice and harmony which defies their individual loneliness. She is a classically trained musician herself, playing a piano she can not afford at a shop. Her daily life cleaning houses, selling flowers on the street and caring for her child and mother in a one room apartment, makes realizing any musical dreams into just that - dreams. The merging of their talents, while short on tangible achievements -- no sudden and magic record contract -- is long on doggedness, perseverance and the realization of a very human longing to hear and be heard.

Shot on a budget of just $150,000 in 17 days, Once offers scruffy production values (as scruffy as the lead actor –ed.). It features a cinema verite style, handheld camera work, and homemade steadi-cams befitting a quiet little movie that celebrates the coming together, if only transiently, of two people in search of connection. Just as Once has no whiz bang computer generated special effects, it has no grandiose ambitions or knotty themes. It does speak honestly to the strength of the human spirit and its need to find connection and meaning with like-minded others.

The here to fore never heard of cast includes: Glenn Hasard and his band the Frames. He previously was in the cast of the Commitments, another treasure of an Irish indie. Opposite Glenn is Marketa Irglova, a young Czech musician who was 17 at the time of shooting. A quick look at her IMDB profile lists her as actress, composer and soundtrack. Other than promotional appearances, Once is Irglova first film. Both say they are musicians first and will be their last acting gig.

And as for the title, director John Carney, a musician and member of the Frames himself, is alluding to the spirit of perennial hope that underlies a street musician’s reflection that, "Once I get it together the doors will open."

Should my review hold no credibility for you check Movie Review Query Engine (MRQE) or Rotten Tomatoes who gave Once a 98% rating.

By Nanny Foster (Film-Finder Extrodanaire!)

Heeeeeeeeere's the trailer!!!