Once (2007)
Movie Title: Once (2007)
Actors: Alaistair Foley, Catherine Hansard, Glen Hansard, Kate Haugh
Directors: John Carney
Format: Color, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: Czech, English
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Run Time: 86 minutes
Movie Description
Winner of the World Audience Award at Sundance, Once starts out as a small-scale romance, like Before Sunrise, before arriving somewhere unexpected. An Irish busker (Glen Hansard, the Frames and The Commitments) meets a Czech flower seller (Markéta Irglová) while singing on the streets of Dublin. (In the credits, they’re listed as Guy and Girl.) She likes what she hears and lets him know. Turns out she’s a musician, too. They work on a few songs together and a friendship is forged. She lives with her widowed mother, who doesn’t speak English. He lives with his widowed father, who owns a repair shop. Since he broke up with his girlfriend, the guy has been drifting, unable and unwilling to get his life in order. The girl encourages him to pursue a record deal, and the guy emerges from his funk. Then he makes a move on the girl, who rejects his advances. He’s confused, but as he comes to find, there’s a reason she’s keeping her distance. Though Once is filled with appealing folk-pop by Hansard and Irglová (released on CD as The Swell Season), the movie isn’t a traditional musical, but rather a more optimistic Brief Encounter. Filmmaker John Carney, Hansard’s former bandmate, captures the real city–in all its affluence and poverty–rather than the picture postcard version. His beautifully shot film serves as a heartfelt ballad about all the underclass Guys and Girls swept aside amidst Ireland’s economic miracle.
Movie Review
I decided to see this on a whim, not really knowing what it was about. It was just what I needed. As someone who has been going through a lot of stress lately and not really listening to music, it reminded me to bring the music back. If the songs were not good, there is no way that I would have made it through the film. A man and a woman meet while he is playing guitar and singing in the street for money. She wants to hear more. He is a little jaded from his last relationship, but he can’t help but like her. Later on, he finds out that she plays piano and they come together in the piano store to play a song together. That was my favorite song in the movie. I found myself glued to the screen, and then, my mind wandering, because it reminded me that I need to discover some new music. Things don’t always end in life they way they do in Hollywood movies (and I’m glad for that) but you still can’t help dropping a few tears. So touching and beautiful. I will definitely buy the soundtrack. A charming, real film.. –By Diane Moore “indiegirl” (Bermuda Dunes, CA)
Plot Synopsis
A Guy (with no name - Glen Hansard of the Irish band Frames) is singing his heart out on the streets of Dublin for tip money. One day a Czech Girl (with no name - Marketa Irglova) stops to listen to the Guy play his music. She is very impressed by his songs and she asks if he wrote his own music. The Guy says that he writes and loves to play his own songs to himself even if the street crowd wants to hear other music. It is nice to earn tips, but that is not what his music is all about. The Guy lives at home and helps his father repair vacuum cleaners, but he has a dream of becoming a recording star. His girlfriend of many years has just left him and is now living in London. You can tell what this has done to his emotions, because it is being reflected in his new songs. The Girl who happens to have a broken vacuum cleaner also has a musical background of playing the piano and writing songs. Their music brings them together and the Girl begins to help the Guy realize his dream. They begin to share their music and their feeling for each other. They put together a band with other street players and rent a recording studio for the weekend to record two demos. This could be the start of a new and wonderful life.
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