A few months ago I saw an episode of Ebert and Roeper that featured a little Irish movie called Once. It was a small musical shot in 17 days for $150,000 and Richard Roeper and the fill-in reviewer that week both raved about it. I was intrigued so I jotted the title down since it sounded like exactly the kind of movie that would not play in a theater near me. When I saw it on Blockbuster.com last week I added it to the top of my queue and I finally watched it last night.
I love this movie. It’s definitely the best movie I’ve seen in the last year and one of the best movies I’ve seen in many years. I stopped the DVD once because I wanted to see if the soundtrack was available on iTunes. It was and I bought it. That piece of business taken care of, I started it back up and watched until it was over and when it was, I let out a happy sigh. In his newspaper review Roger Ebert said, “It’s one of those films where you hold your breath, hoping it knows how good it is, and doesn’t take a wrong turn.” And he’s so right.
The plot is very simple and I won’t bore you with the details. You can read a summary online somewhere if you really need to know. I will say that the un-Hollywoodness of the movie is absolutely its best feature. The two leads are musicians and not experienced actors. (Glen Hansard is the writer/lead singer for the Irish band the Frames and Marketa Irglova is a classical pianist from the Czech Republic). Both are attractive but in a mussed, slightly beat-up real world way instead of a spit and polished Hollywood way. Everything about their interactions in the movie feels genuine. They don’t Meet Cute and they don’t engage in witty but too perfect banter. They just… talk to each other like people who are just getting to know each other do. The main characters (they’re never given names so that’s why I’m not referring to them that way) don’t fall into bed with each other upon first meeting and they’re not all over each other. Their relationship – like the movie – is sweet and gentle.
Even if you don’t like musicals you should check it out because even that is different here. There are a lot of songs in the movie and they serve the usual purpose of moving the story along and letting the audience in on the characters’ lives and feelings but because the main characters are musicians, the songs fit into the movie in a very natural way. They’re messing around in an old music store, they’re singing for money on a street corner, they’re goofing around on the bus. And unlike in your typical Hollywood musicals everyone else doesn’t jump up and join in or pretend there’s nothing unusual going on. The old lady on the bus turns around and stares, bristling at the use of a swear word and the singing characters see and respond to her reaction.
I beseech anyone reading this to rent Once as soon as humanly possible. It’s sweet but not saccharine, simple but not simplistic, and full of heart. I think you’ll like it. But if you don’t, don’t tell me because we’ll no longer be friends. Seriously.
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