movie review
Once
Laid-Back Film Scores Big
In a sea of big-budget Hollywood blockbusters comes Once, an unassuming little film that puts most of those bigger movies to shame.
Set in Dublin, it tells the story of a street musician (billed as “Guy” in the credits, played by real-life musician Glen Hansard) and a Czech immigrant (billed as “Girl,” played by Marketa Irglova). By chance, they meet on the street one day. She’s lugging a vacuum cleaner that needs to be fixed, and he’s singing some tunes and playing his guitar.
As it turns out, Guy’s dad can fix the vacuum cleaner, so off they go to his shop. In the midst of this low-key interaction, Guy and Girl discover they both love music. She can sing and play the piano. So they gather some other street musicians and make a demo tape of Guy’s original songs.
The back-story is that Guy is wounded by a recent relationship gone sour, and Girl is estranged from her husband and living with her mother and young daughter. Girl and Guy sorta-kinda get together, but they’re dealing with a lot of other stuff that gets in the way.
Once works because nothing is forced on us. The storyline plays out so organically that you’d swear you’re watching a documentary. In fact, writer/director John Carney once played in a band called The Frames, led by Glen Hansard. Also, Carney lived in Dublin and maintained a long-distance relationship with his girlfriend, who was living in London.
Nineteen-year-old Irglova is a musician from Prague who met Hansard a few years ago and started playing music with him. They put out an album last year called “The Swell Season.”
When I sat down to write this review, I could have just said “It’s lovely” and called it good. But this movie is not only lovely, it’s also small and quiet and charming and laid-back. And the ending might make you a little weepy, but in a good way.
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