Review of Once (2007) by Jonny W — 04 May 2015

It's already just a little short compared to many other films, which is not surprising considering its budget, but considering how uneventful it was, it should have been much shorter. And while I like the idea of a relationship between a male and female where they don't just magically fall in love, it was not enough to make this a good film. The music is good, but it's overshadowed by the monotony of the story itself. It's incredibly predictable, so watching it becomes boring after 15 minutes or so. I'm amazed at how many people liked the film and I have a feeling it's simply because it was a low-budget indie film. But I can't criticize a person for liking something, I guess.

I'd say the best thing about the film is how they approach the musical aspect of it. It's mixed into the story rather than forced into the story like many classic musicals.

And I just can't help but point out that it took about 30 minutes for me to really know what the characters look like. There's a serious lack of close-ups that led to me hardly caring about the story. This is a fundamental error that is overlooked for reasons I cannot understand.

I'm utterly amazed that this film is as favored among critics as "The Dark Knight" and other fantastic films. It does not seem nearly as well thought-out as "The Dark Knight," so it's either an accidental masterpiece (that doesn't even have close-ups), or it's extremely overrated.