Once (2007)

Instant Favorite.

Excellent, a Must See

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Rotten Tomatoes gave this a 97% rating which is why I watched this film. It was one of the slowest, go nowhere movies I have ever seen. A total waste of 90 minutes. There is some chemistry between the male and female lead but it, like the movie as a whole, goes absolutely nowhere! Don't waste any of your time watching this trash...Also, the music isn't any good either...

I had to give this a second viewing, after my newly discovered respect for Carney ("Begin Again", "Sing Street"). I am glad that I did. I guess my taste in films has refined over the years, for I do not remember liking it this much. Carney has a talent for painting the picture of love in a subtle way that is that much more effective. Love, for him, does not always mean grand gestures or even two individuals with the fairytale ending. He realizes that, often, love is in the small things. That some loves are unfortunately not meant to be. That people are in our lives for a season, reason, or lifetime, and one is not necessarily better than the others. Add to that the amazing music that accompanies all Carney's work, and you have another great film.

Once follows two people: a busker/songwriter and a young woman with a broken vacuum cleaner. As expected of John Carney, the music is great. And similar to his latest film, Sing Street, he is very aware of that and spends at least a solid 1/3 of this movie in song. Most of the music is heard all the way through, and thankfully the music is good so it makes it just that much easier to sit through. While I didn't like the music as much as Sing Street and I think that it did get redundant after a while, thus reducing its rewatchability, it was still good and it's a soundtrack that I plan on revisiting. As for the writing and directing, both were kind of off and on. While the hand-held camera use was suited to making the movie somewhat more lifelike (like a documentary), it could be somewhat nauseating and difficult to keep up with. The directing also seemed like a cop-out for the often faulty writing that proved to be rather unconvincing and awkward at times. But at the same time the music is well-written and some of the dialogue is really good too. My biggest problem with the movie, however, was Markéta Irglová. Her acting ranged from fine to just plain stale. There were so many points where I audibly remarked on how bad her acting was, despite being completely alone on my couch. The rest of the acting is mostly fine, but she was just so wooden. Her lines were delivered with no emotion or tone or anything whatsoever most of the time. It was as if she was just reading her lines off a nearby sheet of paper. Her best acting seemed to come from when she forgot her lines and stumbled over them, which at the least added some naturalism to them. Overall Once is good, but it's ultimately weighed down by inconsistent writing and directing and some poor acting. Sure the music is great, but as a movie it's okay. It's like John Carney didn't know how to get his music out into the world without performing it, so he made a movie about it and didn't hold back. In the end I would really only recommend the movie to select people, specifically ones who would like the musical aspect.

From the rough and uncut opening image and the song being sung, it was clear this was a different kind of movie. So many love stories are about tired and overused clichés that focus on the most superficial forms of human relationships. This is light years from that.It's about two lonely souls connecting at a level that is far too rarely seen in films these days. Add to that a soundtrack that is full of passion and skill (not to mention an authentic Irish vibe that feels both immediate and vibrant) and it creates an experience that is truly life-affirming and life-giving.I've seen a few of the "hater" reviews and it's like they were watching a different movie than I did. Just don't get it. To each, his/her own, I guess.