I just finished watching the movie Once and it was amazing. I’d read some reviews and best of lists from last year that included this movie, but had not managed to get around to watching it yet. But whoa, is it impactful.
It’s a simple story of two musicians who find each other and make music. And the music is fantastic. The lead characters are played by musicians, not actors. Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová are both musicians, they actually wrote all the music in the movie. Large portions of the movie are watching them sing and figure out their music together, so if you don’t find the emotional connection in watching people sing, be warned, this movie is not for you.
But it was so much for me. I think I cried through almost every song. They were just so potent, so poignant. I’m in need of buying the soundtrack and buying it now. There was something about these songs that really hit me and hard (though I’ve been a bit emotional recently, so take that into account).
I’ve embedded a video of one of the songs, but not with movie footage because you should catch the whole thing and see it in context to really appreciate it. The camera work is a bit dodgy, but the performance is great.