Greetings,
I love things that are simple. Not simplistic, but simple. This is probably why I like a good indie film. Sometimes I just like to watch a good story that is true to life without a lot of bells and whistles and special effects, and if you can throw in a little music, that just makes it even better. Put all of this together and you get the movie Once.
Once is a seriously stripped down film. So much so that they don't even name the main characters. For real. In the credits, they are called Guy and Girl, which means that is what I will have to call them. If you ask me, though, I think this is to emphasize the fact of how well they got to know each other on levels that are different from the ones of which we normally think. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's get to the story. I won't be saying too much, because when I said this was simple, I was not kidding.
As the film opens, we see Guy, played by Glen Hansard. He is partaking in his hobby/job of being a Dublin busker. Love him already. A "busker", for those of you who don't know, is a street performer, a street musician in this case. As he plays, he is approached by Girl, played by Marketa Irglova. She is a Czech immigrant who is drawn to his music. She begins a conversation, bombarding him with questions about his songs, and, in the process, finds out that his "day job" is repairing vacuum cleaners. And she has a broken one. What a coincidence.
The next day, Girl brings her cleaner, and she and Guy end up having lunch together. This is where things really take off, because the conversation again turns to music. Guy finds out that she is a musician herself, and they find a piano store in which they can play together. Immediately, they discover that they are kindred musical spirits and start to write songs.
As the time passes, they learn more about each other's lives. Girl learns of Guy's relationship with his dad and his ex-girlfriend who has served as quite a powerful inspiration. Guy learns of Girl's family, which includes her mother and baby daughter with whom she lives and a husband who is nowhere to be found.
They begin to take the idea of their new musical partnership seriously, going so far as to hire some other musicians and rent out some time in a studio to make a demo. And while all of this is taking place, the relationship of Guy and Girl continues to deepen. And that is about all I can really say without ruining anything. I will say, though, that each scene of the film is easily passed off to the next just in order to get us to the end where we are not necessarily given some jaw dropping reveal. And yet, you do feel like the whole trip was worth it to get to that end. It is definitely an investment that pays off. Having said that, let me discuss the music.
Much like the film, the music here is simple but moving and even powerful at times. All of it was written by either Hansard or Irglova or both of them. Of course, I must discuss the most famous song, "Falling Slowly", which went on to win an Academy Award. The moment I heard this song, I fell in love with it, and I have heard a lot of other people say the same. It is absolutely beautiful, and as you listen, you can really feel the two writers coming together to create it, as though what happened in the film was infused right into the notes. But even though this one is most well known, there are other great songs as well. Some of my favorites are "Lies" and "When Your Mind's Made Up", as well as the Irglova only penned "If You Want Me" and "The Hill".
Now I really do have to speak about the artists themselves and their performances. Marketa Irglova seems to be quite a soft spoken woman, and it carries over into her singing. It is gentle but just strong enough to make you feel something, and she has a quiet maturity in her voice, which was amplified for me when I found out just how young she was when she made this film. Glen Hansard, on the other hand, is a singer that I find to be very outwardly dynamic. He can do the quiet thing, too, but when he truly digs deeps, you will be blown away by what he can do as a performer. To sum it up, I absolutely love these two people.
Whether you like indie films or not, I would certainly recommend this. Of course, it is more suited to a viewer who just likes to watch ordinary people live their lives with an extraordinary story bubbling beneath their everyday actions. It is definitely a film for songwriters like myself because we get to see our people doing their thing. And as a side note, if you do see this, or have seen it, and like it, here is another recommendation. In 2011, a documentary called The Swell Season was released, and it explores the musical and personal lives of Hansard and Irglova as they experience their newly found fame. It is actually very good, as I said, especially if you like Once.
So, in conclusion, if simple and beautiful films and music are what you find appealing, then this one is definitely for you. I just wish, as always, that there wasn't so much swearing. But still, fantastic movie, amazing music, and very wonderful people.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
