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Once is a fantastic movie
By Andrew | August 24, 2008
Since I finally got around to getting a Netflix account I’ve been binging on movies and I finally got Once at the urging of a friend. I was initially scared of it since I’m not typically a fan of “musicals” with characters spontaneously breaking into song, orchestras coming out of nowhere, the lyrics getting wedged into fitting the melody, etc. Once is nothing like that. Instead of the music being decoupled from the action on the screen, it’s integral to it.
The plot of the movie can be summed up in one sentence: An Irish busker with a broken heart meets a Czech immigrant with a daughter who’s separated from her husband and she finally gives him the courage to move on with his life.
The wonderful part of having such a simple plot is that it gives the actors room to stretch out. There’s not a lot of minutiae that you have to get involved with and it works very well when you have actors that can carry the film and Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova carry the movie easily. Less capable actors would easily fall flat on their faces playing the same roles.
The best part of the movie is how genuine it is. It’s a low budget film and it embraces the limitations that come with that. The camerawork is all up close and intimate, giving the feeling of actually being in the room with them as an observer. The film is also wonderfully acted and you can actually see the actors fall in love with each other over the course of the movie. The music was written by the actors and it shows because they perform it with a passion that you don’t see when people perform music written by others.
I’m not going to give any details of the ending suffice it to say the movie ended in the only way it could have. Fortunately Fox didn’t change the ending for American audiences which would have ruined the meaning of the film.
I have to say that it’s one of the best and most genuine films I’ve ever seen, perfectly written, perfectly acted, perfectly directed and wonderfully edited.
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