Once

Writer/Director: John Carney
Rating: R
Run Time: 85 minutes
The Reel Man: 5 reels
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Some of the best films don’t seem like films at all. The characters pull us out of our butter-flavor-stained seats and into the fictional, but seemingly real world they inhabit. These movies make benevolent spies of us, the kind we become while people-watching on a park bench or waiting for the boarding call in an airport terminal. Once is the latest example of that rare cinematic experience.

A modern-day musical set in Dublin, Ireland, Once centers around a “broken-hearted hoover-fixer sucker guy” played by Glen Hansard, frontman of the Irish band, The Frames. “Guy” (his character does not have a name) is a struggling street musician who in the not-so-distant past, lost the love of his life. He meets a young salesgirl, “Girl,” played by Marketa Irglova, a Czech immigrant, who is dealing with a similar loss. After several stumbles we’ve all been through more than we would care to remember, the pair form a unique relationship, a respite from the depression they’ve been suffering under. But to say much more than that plot-wise would spoil the film.

Once sits atop a sturdy foundation of memorable, and sometimes heart-wrenching, music. We are left with the impression that Hansard himself lived the pain his character is singing about. But this was almost not the case. Director John Carney (also of The Frames) had a choice to make: hire actors that could half-sing or musicians who could half-act. Fortunately, his decision was made easier by the loss of Cillian Murphy who was originally cast in the lead role.

Now on to the technical pluses… The majority, if not all, of the lighting is natural. And with the exception of two perfectly placed crane shots, most of the camerawork is handheld. Both elements contribute to the film’s documentary feel and overall realness. In addition, the camera moves do not seem staged, but rather discovered in the moment. This is especially true in the music store scene where our heroes first perform together.

It should be noted that Once is a film that is more than the sum of its parts. It rises above being just another dramatic movie to, in this humble reviewer’s opinion, a priceless work of art. There is an intangible, unnamable element that exists between the frames. The overall result is that we believe “Guy” and “Girl” to be more than just characters born out of a starving screenwriter's mind (in this case, Carney's), but living flesh-and-blood people with beating hearts.

If there is any nitpicking to be done, there are times when the shadow of the boom microphone pulls us briefly out of the experience to remind us for a moment that it is a film after all. And in the same way a crowd forms behind an on-the-scene television news reporter, the drummer in Once is a bit preoccupied with making sure he is on camera. Also, “Guy” and “Girl’s” cute-meet is perhaps a little too cute.

The bank scene bends the reality that the film works so hard to achieve, but given that it provides a good laugh as well as explain the ease at which the characters get over their financial hurdle, it’s a forgivable indulgence.

Once stands, to date, as one of my favorite films of 2007.