"Once" does "Across the Universe" one better

Rating: 9/10 (20 December 2007)

It's almost as if some muse has made it her business to prove to me that musicals can be good. First 'Across the Universe' had me with my mouth open, and now 'Once' comes along, and I'm questioning my upbringing. The moments it captures seem so delicate, but they can't be or John Carney would never be able to make this film. And it's not really a musical as much as a movie deeply entwined in music. In a way music is its real topic. Music weaves a bond between first two people, and then a small group. And it's as if the music is completely guileless and unpretentious, like the people who are attracted to it, who like the people in 'Across the Universe' are really children of the Sixties though they're far too young to have been directly influenced by them. This is probably the most pleasurable movie I've ever seen, and I don't mind that I won't forget it anytime soon. It was good to have the captions on as the accents can be thick at times, but why aren't I surprised this film wasn't made in America?