Once is the familiar story of when boy meets girl, boy falls crazy in love with girl, and all the complications that come along with that. The movie does not have an overly complicated plot, but rather, allows the audience to believe they’re watching two talented musicians fall in love, while listening to the beautiful music they make together. Once is shot in a style that gives it a documentary-like tone, which serves to add to the illusion that the film’s stars, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, are two real people and that we’re actually watching them fall in love with each other. Every glance that the two characters give each other, every conversation they have feels real, rather than coming off as typical movie dialogue.
The movie has a way of capturing all the emotions and dramatics of the scenes with an original song, which always sound as if the two stars’ lives depended on us liking it. Though the movie is categorized as a musical, it is far away from any musical Hollywood has ever produced. A raw and emotional ride, the film always pulls you in so you care about what happens to its characters and the decisions they make. Once is a movie that happens to have songs in it, not a musical that happens to have some story in it. The soundtrack to the album is just as important, and original, as the film itself. Each song is personal, raw and if the movie doesn’t get you all choked up inside, trust me, the music in it will.
The film’s story is simple, so my critique is also, however, the movie does do an amazing job of showing how two people fall in love, making it more than just seem real, but feel real too. The movie is simple and never attempts to add unnecessary plot filler to the simple and honest story, which adds to the realness, the genius, and the freshness of this modern masterpiece.
My Rating: 4 out of 4 stars
David Leith Fraser
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I went with a couple of my friends to see this when it came out a while back. We were like the only people in the theatre and I thought that meant it was going to suck, but it didn’t and instead was a really sweet movie. I loved it. I loved it a lot.
[1] Posted by: emilirossum | January 21st, 2008 at 2:19 pmI heard about this movie not too long ago, my friend told me it was really good and now, so does the review, so maybe I’ll go rent it. I hope it lives up, because I’ve heard good things about it. By the way, nice review.
[2] Posted by: MissDonJuan | January 21st, 2008 at 4:01 pmI had to watch this for extra credit in my Ethics class. I have no idea why. It was a really cool surprise though when this movie turned out to be really good. I love it. The music is amazing and the film really does feel real. It’s really cool.
[3] Posted by: theJamexican | January 28th, 2008 at 8:20 pmI thought I told you last time to stop using my account. God. You’re so strange. How did you find out my password? Okay. Just weird. I’m going to tell on you. Hehe. Just playing. Stop it though.
[4] Posted by: theJamexican | January 28th, 2008 at 8:30 pmI thought it was good, but not as brilliant as everyone claimed. I am sensitive to camera work, and I seriously thought about throwing my TV out the window in the first 10 minutes. It was way to shaky. But I got used to it. I thought it was a little slow to begin with, but it definitely picked up the pace. The music was good, artful, but not necessarily my cup of tea. I think everyone should give it a chance and decide for themselves. It was a really good movie, but I guess just not one of my personal favorites. I think it should get the Oscar for best music though.
[5] Posted by: MoosesRule | January 29th, 2008 at 4:23 pmSomeone described it as “artfully artless” and I think that’s very apt.
Nice review. I absolutely loved this film. I like that it was slow paced because it was so subtle and really crept up on you. Great to see an Irish nominee for the Oscars. Plus, I’m in the background of one of the scenes
!
[6] Posted by: tree29illuminous | February 23rd, 2008 at 10:16 pmThank you for your comment tree29illuminous, I’m glad that you enjoyed my review, I wrote what I felt about the movie and hoped it would come out good. It’s also really cool that you were an extra, no matter how short it is that you’re face is seen, it’s still a pretty cool story to tell.
theJamexican
[7] Posted by: theJamexican | February 28th, 2008 at 9:35 pmThanks to everyone who posted a comment, it’s really cool and I’m glad to read about everyone’s opinions on it.
theJamexican
[8] Posted by: theJamexican | February 28th, 2008 at 9:37 pmFinally saw the movie and really really liked it. It was so sweet and heartfelt that you just can’t stop watching it and listening to the music. I’m also really really really really happy it won an oscar. Yay!
[9] Posted by: MissDonJuan | February 28th, 2008 at 10:33 pmYay!
[10] Posted by: MissDonJuan | February 28th, 2008 at 10:34 pmYay I say! Lol.
[11] Posted by: MissDonJuan | February 28th, 2008 at 10:34 pmOooh looks really cool! Maybe I should go rent it out, too…
[12] Posted by: bingo_town | April 10th, 2008 at 11:40 amyou really should. it’s so worth it. trust me.
thejamexican.
[13] Posted by: theJamexican | April 24th, 2008 at 8:48 amThis movie looks pretty good. I want to see it.
[14] Posted by: Sweeney6067 | May 4th, 2008 at 3:33 pm