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Once in a Lifetime In the world of rock movies, if “A Hard Day’s Night” is about the sheer joy of performance, and “Almost Famous” captures what it means to really, really be in love with a band, then “Once” perfectly captures the joy and bliss of writing and creating music with a kindred spirit. I loved, loved this movie. Every now and then, you come across a film that, within the first ten minutes, you know you’re in for something special. “Once” is like that.
This low-budget import opens on a medium shot of a Dublin street musician (Glen Hansard) singing to a disinterested crowd. Fending off thieves eager to swipe the few pounds he’s gathered in his open guitar case is all in a day’s work for the guy, whose name is never mentioned in this film. Then a young Czech woman (Markéta Irglová) stops to listen. They agree to meet again, so he can take a look at her broken Hoover vacuum, and soon enough they’re talking about music. He writes songs and plays guitar. She plays piano. One day, they sit down together at a local music store to swap songs, and a musical — and possibly romantic — partnership is formed. Largely through songs rather than dialogue, the two characters’ stories and feelings are revealed. But unlike most musicals, there’s no need to suspend belief in what’s happening on screen as the actors break out in song. Here, songs are integrated into the plot naturally as music is at the center of these characters’ lives. The Guy and the Girl (whose name is also never revealed) grow closer and take their musical partnership to the next level, recording a demo so that he can take it to London in search of a record deal, and possibly much more.
Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová are perfect in their roles. Irglová in particular has the kind of smile that makes you wonder what she’s really thinking, which only adds to her mysterious Eastern-European charm. Amazingly, she had never acted before, and was still a teenager when the film was shot. Director John Carney, a longtime friend and musical colleague of Hansard’s, notes in a short featurette on the DVD of “Once” that in preparing his film, he came to the conclusion that “singers who can kind of act” would better suit the movie than “actors who can kind of sing.” Carney made the right choice. Hansard and Irglová’s performances are never forced, and when they sing together, they’re so in tune with each other as to be practically glowing. I can’t bear to spoil any more of this movie, which seemed so perfect in every way to me. The songs are terrific, too, most of them co-written by Hansard and Irglová. As a sometime musician myself, I felt like “Once” truly captured the magic sparks that can happen when you meet the right person, even if it only happens once. 12/23/07 Back to the main Cinema Tuesdays Reviews page More about the Cinema Tuesdays series  |
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