A Unique Musical Expression of Relationship with deep meaning

Rating: 10/10 (23 March 2008)

Usually I don't write reviews, I often feel that my expression in words won't demonstrate my real emotional expression from the movie.
But this time I feel more brave to do that. SPOILERS!
People talk of "Once" as film, that without it's music is nothing special. For them the story is so unimportant that they just enjoyed the music and moved on with their lives (as we often do with films).
But I feel that those are totally missing the point. Sure, the music in this film is 99% of it's charm, appeal and enjoyment. But I found the background story of music much more meaningful and touching than just "background".
The writer and director John Carney chose to not name the main characters and they are called The Guy and The Girl. I think it's a brilliant and meaningful choice. "Once" is about specific period in life. It's a period when something happened in past and now you're just waiting, but you are so passive. You curse the past, you act bitterly and don't think about the future. Maybe because you're afraid, maybe because you're ignoring the life and maybe you just wait for someone to save you.
The Guy and The Girl are exactly those persons. Their meeting is touching because of the change they both can make, one thanks to other.
The music in this film is symbolizes their wish and will, their possibility of finding the right person for them but it turns out that they found much more than love. Love in this film is some kind of a miss, that what brings us to tears in this movie. But it's a miss that gives birth to become active, to change, to do something. The Guy decides to go to London, for his music, for his girl, for the hope. The Girl gives chance for her family life, for her husband, for stability.
The fact that Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová are not professional actors is a great gift and bonus for the film. They are just like every one of us, guys and girls who know what it's like to experience love as a miss, but finding a person who right on time for "this kind of a period".
This film stayed with me for long, not just because of the power of music in this film, but because it's really touching every one of us when we can relate to a certain period of life, when we need someone to make a change and believe. Even if it's love that we may sacrify..
Brilliant. 10/10