James Blunt and Norah Jones in an 85 minute music video for the Starbucks generation.

Rating: 1/10 (27 August 2007)

I was unfortunate enough to see this at the Sarajevo film festival, and it was easily the worst film of the selection shown, and one the worst films I have ever sat through. The story is horribly clichéd, and I found the characters completely dull and predictable. Perhaps the most grating aspect of the film was the music, which was cringe worthy. Basically, John Carney has filmed an 85 minute James Blunt video, a crime that should be punishable by law. I was expecting the film to take a u-turn at some point and reveal some deeper commentary on the music industry or perhaps present a refreshing twist on a love story, but instead it plods along with a level of sincerity that is both naive and superficial.
Once is wholly conventional and unrelentingly smug; perpetuating stereotypes of the music industry that any intelligent film maker would challenge or subvert. The film's soundtrack (apparently written by the two stars) is repetitive and shockingly bad, doing nothing to flesh out the characters or tell the audience anything we don't already know. Another film I saw at the festival, Gus Van Sant's Paranoid Park, would be a prime example of masterful utilization of soundtrack and score, whereas this was merely offensive and self-indulgent. If anyone wants to see this kind of film done right then I suggest you see the popular Lost In Translation, or the stunning work of art that is Hiroshima Mon Amour.