Once

This movie was not what I expected. It was built up at the Oscars and from what I had heard people say about it, and it certainly did something rarely seen.

The characters are never given names, so I will have to refer to them as Guy and Girl. Guy is a street performer when he isn't working for his Dad's vacuum cleaner repair store. He sings well known songs during the day and plays guitar, and at night plays more for himself singing his own compositions. After playing a fairly emotional song he meets Girl who gives him 10 cents, he is noticeably bitter to her even though she seems much worse off than him. She is an immigrant from Czechoslovakia, with a kid and a mother to support.

They begin to hang out and he makes a move on her that she doesn't really care for. Even though that happens they continue to be around one another and eventually record some songs together. I wont go any further on with the story, but honestly there wasn't much story.

The filmmakers traded Story, Cinematography, even acting in for the music and a general emotion of the film. There are long stretches that they are simply singing and playing instruments. When I say simply I just mean on the surface, there is a deep well of emotion behind what they are doing as well as something is happening between them. Instead of talking, most of their flirtations are through the music. It was a strange musical for sure, where the music isn't part of the world they live in, they are singing in the real world. In "West Side Story" When someone breaks into song its a normal thing, in this world it would be viewed as strange. So instead its a musical simply because that's the main course of communication they are using with one another.

The music was really fantastic, there were some really sad and touching songs. Both of them come together beautifully, and are a harmony themselves. I did feel though there were scenes where the image suffered simply because they didn't really care about how it looked, the film was more a vehicle for the music, which hey, nothing wrong with that. If some films exist simply for the actors to act in, then why not a film to get some music across to the audience?

The acting wasn't great, but it doesn't really matter, most of it feels like a documentary (the use of a digital camera, the non-actors they cast) so I am willing to forget about the acting since so much of it felt real, I could believe they were just people being followed with a camera.

The packaging of the film as well as my understanding of it before I saw it told me one thing, and I was saddened to find a different movie under the hype. A sad movie, with no one running to the airport to stop them in time, no kisses in the rain. It was merely the story that many people live, with their music being the glue holding them together, even if only for a short while. The small time they had together will seemingly dictate the rest of their creative lives.

Its a good movie for music, its not meant to be visually stimulating, or not as much as it could have been, but its greatest strength is the fact that there aren't many movies like this out there. Combine that with the fact that it was a good film makes it worth watching. You'll probably end up downloading the music as well. 8/10 stars.

Director: John Carney

Starrring: Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova

P.S. If you watch it, afterwards look up on IMDB, the Trivia section of the movies page, what she is saying when she answers his question after they are looking at the sea. There are no subtitles for that part, and its key to the story.