Once (2007)

Several months ago, I saw one of the most refreshing and interesting movies of the year. A small budgeted independent film set in Dublin called Once. The movie follows the fortunes of an Irish guitar playing busker (who remains unnamed throughout the film), who I will call "Dude". He meets a Czech immigrant girl one day on the street, and almost by accident they realize that they make great music together. There is a great scene near the beginning where they sit in a piano shop and play one of Dude's songs together. The effect is quite magical, and the rest of the movie plays out like a musical, but feels grounded in the real world. A quasi, un-requited romance develops between the two as they move into a studio to record an album, and we begin to learn about their past loves and shipwrecked dreams.



Maybe this is the music lover in me talking, but I loved the film. Each one of the songs was great, some of them quite moving, and the acting was surprisingly very good for two unknown actors. Glen Hansard (who plays Dude) and Markéta Irglová who plays his charming young sidekick, wrote all but one of the songs in the movie, and this is one soundtrack that I will definitely be picking up at my next opportunity.

I really want to recommend this movie to everyone, but it actually has quite a bit of vulgarity, so the sensitive should beware. At the end of the day though, the merits of the film shine through brilliantly. The movie took Sundance by storm, and is easily one of my favorite films of 2007.