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As the 2007 award season continues to plod along with less-than-thrilling results, I keep finding that some of the most memorable films aren’t the ones with big-name actors and all kinds of studio-sponsored buzz. Instead, they’re the smaller films that just have a wonderful story to tell.
Once is one of those plain-and-simple, no-frills films. It tells the story of a guy (Glen Hansard, lead singer of Irish rock band The Frames and director John Carney’s former bandmate) who spends his days working in his father’s vacuum cleaner repair shop and his free time playing his guitar and singing on the streets of Dublin. Heartbroken over the end of his last relationship, he’s just floating through life until he meets a girl (Markéta Irglová) one day while he’s busking. She’s a Czech immigrant, living with her mother and her young daughter, trying to make ends meet through odd jobs. But, like him, she loves music—and though she can’t afford a piano of her own, she’s found a music store that will let her play the floor models during her lunch break.
Through their music, the two build a strong bond. And as they work together to write and record the music that they hope will bring the guy success and a new life in London, the power and intensity of their chance relationship changes both lives forever.
Once is a film that proves that you don’t need millions of dollars and a cast filled with Oscar winners to tell a truly powerful story. It’s a simple story—just two nameless people who meet on the street and touch each other’s lives in one short week. There isn’t a ton of action—or even a lot of dialogue, for that matter. In fact, most of the story is told through music. But through that music, Carney and his two musicians-turned-actors tell such a powerful and intimate story about friendship and love that it feels like you’re really watching a real, live relationship grow and change before your eyes. Like any normal relationship, it’s sometimes awkward. It’s not always easy. It has its ups and downs and its bumps along the way. But the story’s simple, uncomplicated honesty and the actors’ effortless chemistry—not to mention the outstanding soundtrack—make Once a moving film that will have you taking a closer look at your own relationships.
So feel free to pass up a couple of this year’s big-name, big-budget Oscar contenders—and check out this simple (and simply moving) little gem instead.
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