Review of Once (2007) by Cameron J — 02 Aug 2013

Once is a special movie in just about every way. It's the only musical that I can now claim with confidence to be among my favorite movies, simply because the story it tells is so extraordinarily beautiful and romantic.

It has a unique sort of magic to it that's hard to explain. The most obvious comparison would be to the 1995 romance Before Sunrise, but to say the two movies are identical would be to ignore much of what makes Once unique .

It's a wonderful little movie that, despite having an inexperienced cast and low budget, stands out as being truly exceptional. It stars Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova as the two nameless protagonists who fall in love and, sharing a love and talent for music, decide to become musical partners as well.

All of the soundtrack is great, although my personal favorite as well as the most memorable song is Falling Slowly. In real life, the two co-stars are a musical duo with no acting experience, but their acting is still surprisingly good.

Their performances aren't perfect, but they make their characters convincing and very relatable. The movie is at its best when the two leads are onscreen together, and they have great chemistry together.

The fact that they're married in reality probably plays a large part in that. The love story at the heart of the movie is moving and is absolutely never predictable or cheesy. The romance is depicted realistically in a similar way to Before Sunrise, and many of the best scenes just involve the two protagonists talking to one another.

The one aspect of the movie that may turn some people away is that the story is somewhat slow-paced and there are two or three brief scenes that I didn't find that interesting. The pacing is in no way a flaw with the movie, but some people may not be as patient with it.

I assure you though, if you stick with it to the end (and it's a very short movie), you'll find that Once is a one-of-a-kind movie that's different in all the best ways.