Once

by Brian Zitzelman

Despite the wealth of romance films that are released each year, it is rare for one to genuinely work. Quite a few achieve a small level of triumph, with a simple desire to see two people end up happy with one another. What few are able to capture is to get the audience to not only wish for the movie’s leads to capture love, but particularly for the two specific individuals to fall for the other. An ache to see these set people so intensely meant to be one grow in their love each day and not with just whomever the screenwriter concocts as a suitable suitor.

Once makes the special step into extraordinary romance land, echoing Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise and Before Sunset along the way. Written and directed by John Carney, Once is a deceptively simple, poignant story of two people, a guy and a girl to be exact. No names are ever given and the universality of this is never underlined yet feels vital upon recollection. The guy is Glen Hansard, member of the Irish band The Frames. He works and lives with his father, spending time fixing broken vacuums, missing his ex-girlfriend and writing songs on his beat-up acoustic guitar, which he also wields to make a little extra cash on the streets. One night as he shouts his longings and despair to the night, a woman, a wondrous Marketa Irglova, appears, happy to hear the songs. She has a broken vacuum, he agrees to fix it the next day and the two move from there. Similar to Linklater’s twin wonders, the outside of Once may seem plain but the inside is marvelous, tender and a real pleasure to watch from beginning to end.

Carney tells his tale with a confidence and patience that is deeply intimate. The movie is full of songs, not a musical but a bizarrely postmodern take on the notion. The two young romantics sing their feelings, always accompanied with a reason. They are either constructing lyrics, working on a recording or in maybe the movie’s finest moment, trying out a duet in a music shop. Sitting down to play a guitar, Hansard shows Irglova a few chords and the words to “Falling Slowly,” a striking tune about his lost love, only lifted higher by Irglova’s lush voice and piano playing. It slowly and deftly builds, as they belt out the chorus. “Take this sinking boat/and point it home/we’ve still got time.” The words sum up each character.

The Guy is still hung up on his former flame, heartbroken over her departure for another man. Hansard plays the part with passion. Most American audiences will be unfamiliar with the singer, a kind of shaggy looking Chris Martin. The lack of familiarity works as a plus, for musicians seeking to be actors can often and rightly be seen as someone seeking silly and unachievable dreams. For example, imagine John Mayer in the role and than remember that you wish you had not. Hansard appears as a pro, appearing to be a desperate man that refrains from neediness. The man is longing for love but does not want just anyone he can find but the right person, his beloved. Equally, Irglova is a gem. She too is bursting forth with contrasting emotions. Irglova’s performance requires a fragile nature that rejects weakness, a woman who refuses to be told what to do but is unwilling to seek out her real desires. Irglova instills her Girl with a profound sincerity that when Hansard’s Guy begins to realize his blossoming emotions, one can not help but feel the same. The true is the same in reverse. Carney’s camera bobs and weaves through crowds of people, stopping on the tender, vital first seconds of infatuation.

Of course, the power of Once would be far less if the songs were plain retreads of acoustic musings. Written by Hansard and Irglova, the entire soundtrack is outstanding, raising the emotions Carney has crafted to a new level and lending the film a long lasting resonance that can be taken with the audience. None of this would matter, however, if the movie’s conclusion was jumbled and predictable, which most thankfully it refuses to be. The last strands of Once reinforce its power, a beguiling tale of love and music that must be taken in by anyone with a yearning for either.