Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 10/14/2008 Run time: 86 minutes Rating: R

Amazon.com:
Winner of the World Audience Award at Sundance, Once starts out as a small-scale romance, like Before Sunrise, before arriving somewhere unexpected. An Irish busker (Glen Hansard, the Frames and The Commitments) meets a Czech flower seller (Markéta Irglová) while singing on the streets of Dublin. (In the credits, they're listed as Guy and Girl.) She likes what she hears and lets him know. Turns out she's a musician, too. They work on a few songs together and a friendship is forged. She lives with her widowed mother, who doesn't speak English. He lives with his widowed father, who owns a repair shop. Since he broke up with his girlfriend, the guy has been drifting, unable and unwilling to get his life in order. The girl encourages him to pursue a record deal, and the guy emerges from his funk. Then he makes a move on the girl, who rejects his advances. He's confused, but as he comes to find, there's a reason she’s keeping her distance. Though Once is filled with appealing folk-pop by Hansard and Irglová (released on CD as The Swell Season), the movie isn't a traditional musical, but rather a more optimistic Brief Encounter. Filmmaker John Carney, Hansard's former bandmate, captures the real city--in all its affluence and poverty--rather than the picture postcard version. His beautifully shot film serves as a heartfelt ballad about all the underclass Guys and Girls swept aside amidst Ireland's economic miracle. --Kathleen C. Fennessy


Beyond Once on DVD

Musicals on DVD

Once: The Soundtrack

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• Once: Music from the Motion Picture
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Rating: - A humble tribute to the bonds forged through music
In our cynical age, it somehow seems especially creative, even courageous, to make a film that is not about corruption, ennui, ulterior motives, dysfunctional social structures, or tragic flaws. Once is a film that is refreshing in its earnestness and in its respect for the things that add meaning and beauty to our lives.

I'm not a musician, but I once aspired to be one. And if I have one pet peeve about film generally, it's how film often disrespects music. It's often treated as a subordinate art, mixed in to add a little punch to the main event, the dramatic narrative. So many films use music carelessly.

Not this film. This is a film whose central focus is the way that music forges bonds between people; how music enables us to express our feelings, and not only to better understand but to care about others; and how music is sometimes the most beautiful thing available to grab hold of.

This film reminded me of a conversation I once had with a friend, in which we concluded that for almost every person's romantic moments, music is somehow involved. Maybe it's a song you've danced to together, or heard together during a special sharing moment. Maybe it's simply music that you listened to privately to work through intense feelings. All in all, I'd wager that few of us have ever fallen in love without music being a big part of the picture.

This film is essentially a musical - but it's not like any other musical I've seen. It's not a film that asks you to shift back and forth between plausible dramatic action and wholly implausible musical production numbers. Instead, in this film, the music is central to the action; the characters are making music together, and every piece of music performed in the film is in a context where you fully believe those characters might make music together in that way. I can't think of another film where the music seemed to matter so much to the characters.

We are so conditioned in our culture to indulge our societal ADD at the expense of respecting music and its uplifting power. Thus, when I first watched this film, I was initially feeling like, "OK, enough of this song, time to cut to something else," - as if sitting through an entire piece of music was more than a film could ask of me. But unless a film does this, it can never fully convey the sense of the joy of making music, and how it brings you closer to other people. The film shows people experiencing this in all its fullness, a special, deeply human experience worth celebrating.

In a lesser film, the film's studio scene would involve some kind of subplot during the performance - furtive glances, repressed conflicts, other dramatic elements - it's all too easy to imagine. Here the only focus of the scene is the shared satisfaction of making the music itself. Similarly, a dinner party depicted in the film is significant chiefly for the music that people share during it.

The film is shot in a very natural, unobtrusive style; you often feel as though you are just a fly on the wall, whether it's in a repair shop or an apartment.

OK, a small confession: the music in this film isn't really my cup of tea. It's more repetitive than I would like, especially so in the lyrics. And I have an issue with music that is too persistently emotive. I can deal with a song building to a pitch of emotionalism, but the songs in this film tried to sustain that high pitch more than is my personal taste. But I say this not to criticize the film; it's simply to say that you can enjoy and respect this film even if this isn't your favorite musical genre. And, I must say, there is no denying that the protagonists do produce some harmonies that are genuinely, hauntingly lovely. Favorite genre or no, there is some truly beautiful music here.

Another thing I appreciated about this film is that it felt no need to create contrived situations, black hats, or exaggerated conflicts. The characters are real people, dealing with plausible issues - heartbreak, loneliness, parental responsibility, regret, money problems, frustrated hopes - which the film doesn't overplay. It just shows men and women using music to work out the feelings that arise in their lives. And, it should be said, the music enables the viewer to feel some of the emotion, too. I saw some moist eyes at film's end.

I'm uncertain how much to recommend this film to my friends; it's certainly not Citizen Kane. I am afraid that one of them would put it in the DVD player, decide the music was too plaintive, and start rolling their eyes. For me, though, it all pulsed with sincerity, and I appreciated that feeling.

Music is one of the most precious enrichments of the human experience. This film respects that, and honors it.

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Rating: - Absolutely fantastic film.
* I won't waste time or space going into why and I don't want to give anything away by explaining anything. It is a great, great film. Five stars. That is all. ...

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Rating: - One of the best indie movies ever
If you love music, like indie films and/or maybe just like accents of people from European countries, this movie will surely blow you away. Story line is great, the music is even better and for people who never did acting before, they did quite well in this movie. Buy it and I promise you that you won't regret it or at least check it out first somehow but it's worth owning.

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Rating: - A realistic romance
* This is an extraordinary movie, full of small moments and a sweet sense of promise. It manages to convey the growing attraction between the two main characters without delving into the bag of Hollywood cliches. The relationship that develops is realistically complicated, and doesn't take the shopworn path to a happy ending.

The music is also fantastic, and all the more appealing because it was written and performed by the principal players, not in bombastic musical-theater style, but organically within the course of the story.

It's a beautiful film that will stick with you and hold up to repeat viewing. ...

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Rating: - Excellent Movie
My husband and I happened to stumble on to this movie. We first heard about it from some award show (maybe the Emmy's) last year. This movie won best song and when they accepted their award we noticed first because of their heavy irish accent, but also becasue they were so genuinely excited about it! So once we saw it come on one of the movie channels we had to watch it. We were both so moved how amazing this movie was for it's simplicity, love and heartache the main character portrays, and wonderful music. It even brought me to tears at one point. I think if you have ever loved someone and had a bad breakup or just even missed that person you will relate to this movie. It's really great, I'm telling you. We had to buy the movie and the soundtrack and add it to our collection. Totally recommend it :)