John Carney’s lightning-in-a-bottle musical romance Once is the musical for people who don’t like traditional musicals. I’ve seen this film a dozen times – easily – and I’m always swept up by its numerous charms. An Oscar-winning critical darling and sleeper hit on the art-house box office circuit back in 2007, Once is the sort of film that has found a massive second-life on DVD/Blu-ray and it’s even spawned a successful Broadway show, which I had the fortunate chance to see, and totally love. The film is a super low-budget effort that sits alongside The Commitments as one of the best working-class musical dramas of all time. There is spoken dialogue throughout the film, but much of the story is told through song, but in an organic fashion so as to never feel forced. The actors, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, were friends for a long time before they shot the movie, and are musicians first and foremost. The story is simple: Boy meets girl, boy wants girl, girl sort-of wants boy, boy impresses girl, girl warms up to boy, and then….well…I’m not spoiling. What I will reveal is that each and every musical sequence is divine, especially when the two leads collaborate in the back of a music shop; pure bliss. The emotion, joy, and love that the characters develop for each other, and how it’s all born out of their mutual love for music, registers in every single scene of this deeply heartfelt film. And the ending of the story is just about perfect; I couldn’t have imagined a better way to cap this lovely and always believable story. By the end of the film’s swift 86 minute run-time, you’ll be wishing that there was one more song to be heard. Carney, who played in a band years ago with Hansard, takes a natural stylistic approach to his story, employing a grainy, digitally shot, hand-held aesthetic that adds to the realism of the story. Much of the film, which took 17 days to complete on a $150,000 budget, was shot by the cameramen from a distance, thus relaxing the actors and allowing them to be spontaneous with their performances. This is a true gem.
Podcasting Them Softly 