a uniquely beautiful film

Rating: 9/10 (13 January 2008)

"Once" is a story about a man and a woman who conduct a courtship almost entirely through song. Music being the primary medium in which these two individuals move through life, it is only appropriate that they should express their love for one another through music as well.
Glen Hansard plays a struggling songwriter/musician whose recent, emotionally devastating breakup with the girl of his dreams now serves as the inspiration for most of his lyrics. Marketa Irglova is a young woman who recently emigrated from the Czech Republic with her mother and daughter to begin a new life in Ireland. She, too, is a composer of music, though she is less assertive and confident about exposing it to others than he is. The two meet on the street one night while he is performing one of his original compositions and they begin a slow, tentative relationship based largely on their mutual love of music.
"Once" is a beautiful, lyrical and heartbreaking film that has understandably garnered a passionate cult following since its release in early 2007. It is an utterly unique and spellbinding work in which the music is every bit as important as the dialogue. The plot, though basic and uncluttered, still manages to throw a few curveballs our way in an acknowledgment that romantic relationships do not always work out in the way we'd like. Filmmaker John Carney keeps it as simple and intimate in his directorial style as he does in his writing, utilizing an unobtrusive and relatively steady hand-held camera that nicely matches the rhythms and beats of the music playing in the background (and often in the foreground). The scene in which the camera, in a single unbroken shot, moves ahead of Irglova as she strolls along the streets of the city singing an original composition is one of the truly transcendent movie moments of 2007. And the music itself is lovely, flavorful and memorable - reason alone, I'd say, for seeing the film.
In addition to their obvious talents as singers and musicians, Hansard and Irglova give performances of such poignancy and subtle emotion that they draw us instantly into the hearts of their characters.
If "Once" reminds us of any film, it is probably the French classic, "A Man and a Woman," another work whose tale of romantic love was intimately woven through music (although, in that film, the characters themselves were not singing or composing works). That's not a bad template for a romantic movie, when you get right down to it.
Since "Once" is a film that it is much better to experience than it is to read about, I suggest you try it on for yourself. You won't regret it.