Once
Tags: good versus evil, allegory

Plot synopsis:
A thirty-something busker performs with his guitar on Grafton Street, a Dublin shopping district and chases a man who steals his money. Lured by his music, a young Czech flower seller talks to him about his songs. Delighted to learn that he repairs hoovers, she insists that he fix her broken hoover. The next day she returns with her broken hoover and tells him that she is also a musician.
At a music store where the Czech woman regularly plays piano, the man teaches her one of his songs ("Falling Slowly"); they sing and play together. He invites her to his father's shop, and on the bus home musically answers her question about what his songs are about: a long-time girlfriend who cheated on him, then left ("Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy").
At the shop, the man introduces the woman to his father and takes her to his room, but when he asks her to stay the night, she feels insulted and leaves. The next day, they reconcile and spend the week writing, rehearsing and recording songs. The woman rehearses lyrics for one of his songs ("If You Want Me"), singing to herself while walking down the street; at a party, people perform impromptu (including "Gold").
The man works on "Lies", a song about his ex-girlfriend, who moved to London. The woman encourages him to win her back. Invited to the woman's home, the man discovers that she has a toddler and lives with her mother. He decides to move to London, but he wants to record a demo of his songs to take with him and asks the woman to record it with him. They secure a bank loan and reserve time at a recording studio.
The man learns the woman has a husband in the Czech Republic. When he asks if she still loves her husband, she answers in Czech, "Miluju tebe", but coyly declines to translate. After recruiting a band from other buskers, they go into the studio to record. They impress Eamon, the jaded studio engineer, with their first song ("When Your Mind's Made Up"). On a break in the early morning, the woman finds a piano in an empty studio and plays the man one of her own compositions ("The Hill").
After the all-night session wraps up, they walk home. Before they part ways, the woman reveals that she spoke to her husband and he is coming to live with her in Dublin. The man persuades her to spend his last night in Dublin with him, but she stands him up and he cannot find her to say goodbye before his flight. He plays the demo for his father, who gives him money to help him get settled in London. Before leaving for the airport, the man buys the woman a piano and makes arrangements for its delivery, then calls his ex-girlfriend, who is happy about his imminent arrival. The woman reunites with her husband in Dublin and plays the piano in their home.

Review: Good and Evil clash and, naturally, the innocent suffer..
Filmed on a beach, with only three actors, and with absolutely no talking, this story centers on the conflict between the Creator, who has the power to create plants and animals, and the Destroyer, who tries but can not create life.
At first the Destroyer tries to emulate the Creator, but becomes frustrated because he can't create life as the Creator does.
The Destroyer vents his frustration by damaging and even killing the living things around him.
Eventually, the Creator creates a woman and she becomes a pawn in the struggle with the Destroyer.I really loved this film.
The pictures were beautiful and acting  convincing and understated.
The metaphorical elements of the story made me ponder the depths of my personal philosophy and had me talking about the film for days.
I always wondered why it didn't become a famous cult movie.
I wish more people had seen it, but it didn't get any PR at all.
Almost everybody will recognize the three actors.
This movie is a memorable experience and I would recommend it to everybody..
A beautiful lost post-apocalypse film.
I saw this film just "once," at the World Science Fiction Convention in Kansas City in 1977.
Marta Kristen was radiantly beautiful in it.
I have not seen it since and consider it my "Holy Grail" of lost films.
I am unaware of any video or DVD releases.
It's a near-classic and deserves availability!.
I was impressed with the raw energy of the film and have remembered it all these years..
"Once" tells a fascinating story of temptation and seduction of innocence told in a most basic style but with a deeper meaning and an original point of view.
Even with the narrow stage of one location (an island), three actors, and no dialogue, Once manages to create an alluring background for the exceptional pantomime and expression of the cast.
Jim Malinda in the role of temptation projects his part with full energy and clarity.
The chemistry of the small cast gets a grip on the emotions then takes a roller-coaster ride as the age-old story of good and evil unfolds.
Once would play well in Art theatres and with cult film fans, It's the kind of movie I remember in my gut as well as my mind..
A mythological allegory on the fundamental dichotomy.
Few filmmakers attempt, much less succeed, at producing a quintessentially cinematic work of art.
"Once" manages to reveal the seminal forces underlying all drama by fully utilizing the powerful medium of moving pictures.
There are better movies but none that I've seen that could tell so much without uttering a word of dialogue.
Deep in all of us are the archetypes we can recognize in the 3 characters.
If we absorb the truth that this movie attempts to reveal we would understand that what appears to be multiplicity becomes singular from a broader more enlightened perspective..
Unique.
A picture that will be unique for all time.
As timely as when it was made in 1974 and will still be timely a hundred years from now.
As in the beginning of time where it starts and ends.
Unique, in that cinema has not gone here before.
A film of such great beauty and yet not a word of dialog with only three characters.