A Musical for people who hate musicals.

Rating: 10/10 (10 September 2007)

Once is a musical. Before you go running from this review, let me explain to you why you should still give it a chance. Technically, Once is a musical, but it's not the kind you've ever seen before. There are no song and dance numbers, people don't burst into song for no reason (complete with an orchestra backing them up). All the music in the film serves the plot and flows quite naturally from the performers. The guy (he isn't given a name) is a struggling street performer, and much of the music comes from his performances. One day he meets a cute as a button Czech immigrant we'll call girl (again, never given a name). These two get to talking and in each other find their musical soul mate (and perhaps love). Most of the plot is moved forward through the songs, whether they are showing him writing a song in his room, or the two of them practicing a song in a music shop. So the movie is about the music they make together. It also about their budding romance and about their past lovers (the inspiration for much of their songs). I absolutely adored this movie. Everything just came together perfectly for me. The music was really great and moving (I bought the soundtrack immediately after the movie), and added so much more emotional depth to these characters. The 2 leads were just perfect, they were funny, extremely talented and real. You can't help getting attached to them and pulling for them.
I'm going to go into major SPOILER territory now, so you've been warned:
While watching the movie, I kept having a sense of dread that these two wouldn't get together in the end....yet the movie kept teasing us with the possibility. She has an estranged husband back Czech, and he has an ex girlfriend in London. Hopefully it's obvious to the viewer that they have fallen for each other, but it's tough for both of them to let go of the past. And in the girl's case, she wants her daughter to have her father (not to mention, the Guy told her he is going to go to London and find his ex). But they keep dangling the carrot in front you of, hoping that somehow they will end up together. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen (on screen at least). When the credits started to roll, I was pretty upset that it didn't happen. However, given time to think, I'm not sure it even matters. This is a story about a guy and a girl and the week or so they spent together making music together and falling in love. Like in real life, you don't always end up with the girl that changed your life. If you want, you can imagine that he comes back for her and they live happily ever after (hey, it could happen!). In a way, this movie is so much like Before Sunset (one of my favorites). It leaves things open and is beautiful. One last thing, there is a scene in the movie where the Guy asks the Girl if she still loves her husband....she answers him in Czech. I made a point to look it up when I got home and it brought tears to my eyes and just made me love this movie that much more
spoilers above. . .
Verdict: I would recommend this movie to MOST anyone, although it does come with this warning. How much you like this movie does depend a lot on how much you like the music. If for some reason you absolutely hate acoustic guitar and heartfelt singing, you should avoid this movie. Also, if you demand a typical Hollywood ending, you might want to go watch Transformers again or something. Everyone else, seek out this movie (it's still in theaters, but limited......or wait for DVD in Dec).
A+