Once - Preview & US reaction
Preview by Jack Foley
KEEP an eye out in a couple of weeks for a lovely independent Irish film called Once.
It’s a musical but it’s miles away from the traditional Hollywood idea of people bursting into song and takes a much more earthy approach.
Glen Hansard (frontman for indie rockers Frames) plays The Guy, a busker playing for change, who finds his life transformed when he meets The Girl (Marketa Irglova), an immigrant from the Czech Republic.
The pair immediately hit it off over their shared love of music (he’s a guitarist, and she plays piano), and they subsequently develop an intimate relationship over the course of the week that also offers the chance to record some music.
But both are weighed down by plenty of baggage: his songs are fueled by a painful recent break-up, and she’s a young mother who left her husband behind in her native country. Their time together is also limited.
Once has been described by some critics as a film in the same style of Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise given that its simple, realistic and authentically played by its two leads.
Hansard may be remembered by fans of The Commitments (he was the sax player) before turning his attentions to music, while the story that exists in the film was almost echoed in real-life when he met Irglova while on tour in Europe and decided to record his own material with her.
Perhaps it’s this real-life relationship that helps to make the one that unfolds on-screen so effective and believable.
The film is directed by John Carney (On The Edge) who actually played bass in The Frames before turning his attention to film.
A flavour of the American response is as follows…
Variety wrote: “Pic’s charm seems so offhand one might not notice the skill with which helmer John Carney pulls it off, or how it plays like a full-blown musical without anyone bursting into song.”
The Hollywood Reporter stated described it as a “wonderful and winning Irish musical” and the Chicago Sun-Times felt it’s “one of the year’s best”.
The New York Times opined: “Once makes a persuasive case that the real future of the movie musical may lie not in splashy grandeur but in modesty and understatement.”
And the Los Angeles Times stated: “Are you looking for a little film you can make your own, an enchanting, unpretentious blend of music and romance you can watch forever? If you do, Once is about to come into your life and make it whole.”
But the final word goes to Entertainment Weekly, which concluded: “The movie swoons, and you will too.”
Once opens in the UK on October 19. b>Watch the trailer