Once (2007)

 

Genre: Musical/Romance 

Time: 1h 25mins

Director: John Carney

Quick Summary: A girl meets a boy in Dublin and helps him put together a demo disc of his music performances. Later, they fall in love with each other and portray their love through their songs.

Now, this does say this is a musical, but it's a film involving music not really a lot of dialogue. There is something really cool to note about this film, and that it was filmed in 17 days. Now I wouldn't call that impressive when comparing it to this film specifically as everything in this, seems like two people just going about their normal life. 

What I liked about this film is that it felt real. The camera work and quality feel homemade, and the two main characters feel genuine in how they don't quite start off right, there isn't any flirting and they simply grow to love each other through getting to know each other as friends. They themselves feel real. I felt like I was actually intruding on two strangers' lives who are simply themselves around each other.

There are no flashy dance numbers, and no show-stopping performances, it's really just watching the two develop an incredibly intimate relationship. Both the actors in this feel incredibly natural, it was incredibly easy to forget they were actually creating two fake people for this. Glen Hansard portrayed someone who was calm, never drawing a lot of attention to himself and honestly really likeable. Markéta Irglová is sweet, a bit cheeky, and very enduring. The pair are very loveable and you hope for the best for them. 

The problem I had with this film was the scenes went on for a long time sometimes. It felt like they didn't know where to leave off. I found myself getting a little impatient waiting for a song to finish or for it to move to the next scene.

Overall this is a very sweet film. A subtle, engrossing romance, but one which is achingly platonic, laced with a bittersweet tang.

8/10