Once (2006)

Posted : 1 year, 3 months ago at Aug 5 10:22

Watching the 'guy' and the 'girl' fall in love on screen was like taking a peek into the lives of two everyday people you meet on the street. They could be the couple walking by holding hands or the two people smiling just for each other, oblivious to the rest of the world. The movie was so wonderfully intimate, so natural were the performances that you can forget that they were acting. I've already mentioned the incredibly natural performances. Now I must mention the excellent music as well as the performance of it. The music is so incredibly expressive and I was completely taken in. The movie is described by some people as a 'contemporary musical'. 'Contemporary musical' or not, this movie is a treat reminiscent of 'Before Sunrise' and 'Before Sunset'. It has the same raw and natural ...Read more

Rating : 10/10

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago at Jun 20 1:58

Girl: "How come you don't play during daytime? I see you here everyday." Guy: "During the daytime people would want to hear songs that they know, just songs that they recognize. I play these song at night or I wouldn't make any money. People wouldn't listen." Girl: "I listen." The film industry has witnessed its fair share of low-budget independent movies that yielded embarrassingly bad results. Once is a blueprint example of an extraordinarily rare event when an independent filmmaker has created a product far superior to incalculable quantities of Hollywood blockbuster rubbish dominating the market that have too long been getting the green light. Writer/director John Carney proves that a straightforward concept can generate groundbreaking results if a clever script is at its core. He...Read more

Posted : 1 year, 6 months ago at May 6 12:16

Just like Before Sunrise, a new classic directed by Richard Linklater, Once is a magical film that through its narrative apparently simple, reaches a victory that escapes most films of the same genre, picturing with authenticity and feeling the precise instant in which two human beings find themselves in love for each other. The difference here is that when Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy were seduced by the long conversation they kept, here, is the music that puts "Guy" and "Girl" together, magnificently played by Glenm Hansard and Markéta Irglová, and the fact that we never hear their names of the two characters makes this newly discovered love even more universal, something that can be easily related by the audience. Not exactly with his ego in the best of shapes since he was abandoned...Read more

Rating : 9/10

Posted : 1 year, 8 months ago at Mar 8 6:54

You know those music videos that show you the behind the scenes. They show you the performers practicing or in the studio. Well, the whole movie is pretty much like that. They throw in bits of a story between the songs, but then they start rehearsing another song. I got pretty bored. And then, towards the end they played two of the songs over again. Not parts of the songs, but the whole thing. Not my cup of tea.

Rating : 4/10

Posted : 1 year, 8 months ago at Feb 20 5:06

When going into a musical, the subtle approach is hardly ever taken. Not to say it’s better one way or the other, but Once proves without a doubt that a quiet, bittersweet, subtle approach can work wonders, and give a new level to your typical “indie film”. Not a lot of films can so easily mesh so many genres together, and make it work so well. You’ve got your basic style and presentation of an independent film, you’ve got the premise of a romance film, and then you realize that it isn’t just a musically themed movie, it’s a musical. Usually, I wouldn’t jump to see any movie under those genres, let alone one that attempts to hold all three, but I was thoroughly impressed and very happy with the outcome. These days, anybody can make a movie with just a few thousand dollars ...Read more

Rating : 9/10

Posted : 1 year, 9 months ago at Feb 1 4:19

an indie without parallels.
a romance without a Hollywood ending.
Once is a heart-rending musical of two human beings with a passion for music and their attempt at a album and a renewed life.
a relief from the colourful hollywood movies

Rating : 8/10

Posted : 2 years ago at Oct 14 20:49

This movie was an interesting take on a love story. It makes you think about a time when you met someone you really made a connection with, but you couldn't really do anything about it. In the story the main characters run into that situation. One character has a love that has moved away which he can't stop thinking about. The other character is in a relationship that isn't really going that well. They both connect, but can't decide whether they should move forward. The movie moves through their plight with a backdrop of acoustic music that is pretty good. The music drives the story as much as the characters. This is a very small budgeted movie. The movie was shot at local locations with hand held cameras. If that kind of filming bugs you, I wouldn't watch this movie. If yo...Read more

Rating : 8/10