ReviewColumn’s rating :

For some reason, Hollywood seems to be obsessed with romance. No matter what sort of film it is, practically every Hollywood production has to have some corny romance thrown in between the two leads. Over the years though, we’ve seen quite a few romance films, some pretty good ones, mediocre ones, and some that make you cringe at how corny or cliche they are. Thankfully, I’m glad to say that Once (2007) belongs in the former group.

Most people might never have heard of Once, which is not surprising considering how it’s a pretty low budget film, not to mention it isn’t even a Hollywood production. Instead, it’s an Irish production, directed by John Carney and starring two relatively unknown leads, Glen Hansard (member of Irish rock group The Frames) and Markéta Irglová, both of which are Academy Award wining singer/songwriters. However, throughout the entire film, neither of the leads are named, even in the credits they’re listed as “Guy” and “Girl”. It starts off as Guy is basking on the streets of Dublin and catches the attention of Girl while playing an original song of his. The next day, Girl brings her spoilt Hoover vacuum cleaner to him after realising his other job is fixing vacuum cleaners. However, before they head to his dad’s shop, they stop by at a music store as Guy requests that Girl play a song on the piano for him. They end up playing a guitar/piano duet of one of Guy’s songs, “Falling Slowly” (which was actually co-written by both Hansard and Irglová). In that scene, you can just about see the sparks of a new relationship beginning to form and from then on, they continue to meet up with each other and grow closer and closer.

However, the great thing about the plot of this film is that unlike other plots, the ending isn’t “happily ever after” (sorry if that was too big a spoiler for some of you). I won’t go into more details about that, you’ll have to watch the movie for yourself. However, the main focus of this movie isn’t exactly the romance, but rather the music. It’s been dubbed to be a “musical film”, kind of like High School Musical, but on a much higher level. For example in HSM, the characters will suddenly break into a song for no reason whatsoever, yet in Once, all the songs are performed in full over the course of the day, without causing the film to skip a beat. It’s as if the songs were meant to be sung at those precise moments instead of them being forced into the film. In fact, the film went on so smoothly that I didn’t really think of it as a musical film until after I read about it afterwards.

And speaking of the music, all of it is pretty good. You won’t find any wild, trashy music here, just very simple melodies (save for Hansard’s octave leaping parts) with minimalistic background music (a piano and/or guitar perhaps) - the recipe for a great soundtrack. After all, it’s on multiple charts (be it Billboard or the US charts), has had 2 Academy Award nominations under its belt. Handsard and Irglová’s “Falling slowly” even managed to clinch the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The soundtrack really is that good and worthy of a 5/5 rating by itself, not bad for a film on a budget of around $250,000.

With a budget that’s only a fraction of other Hollywood productions, don’t expect any fancy camera work here, in fact it almost feels like you’re watching a documentary of Guy’s and Girl’s lives because of the way the film is shot. None of the acting is anywhere near Hollywood level though, but that doesn’t really matter in a film like that. Hansard and Irglová will still manage to charm you with their natural chemistry (in fact they became a couple during/after filming Once) and down to earth acting (as much of the dialogue was made up on the go). The parts of the movie where they really shine are when they’re doing what they do best - singing. After composing those octave leaping melodies, boy can Hansard deliver the vocals.

However, there’s still a deep element of romance involved in the film, and you can’t help but feel frustrated and sad by the time the show ends. I myself am pining for a sequel (Twice?) just so that we can watch the two leads live happily ever after. Unfortunately, that won’t happen since both leads have expressed little interest in continuing to act. It really is an emotional film that will touch anyone’s heart by the time the credits roll.

Once (2007) is another must-watch film, and would be great as a film for couples to watch. It’s all about how two people are deeply affected by each other in a very short period of time, and with great music thrown in for good measure. Be sure to grab a DVD of this movie as soon as possible.

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