ONCE

Director: John Carney (a handful of low budget flicks with Cilian Murphy)

Starring: Glan Hansard, Marketa Irglova

Once is one of those indy films where you really appreciate the lengths that the writers and director go to make the film interesting despite its "limited" budget. Yes, this is a cheap film. Okay, great. I think many will agree that low budgets can force filmmakers to be creative. Instead of beatiful (expensive) things on screen, they're forced to creatively look at cheap things, in cheap places, doing cheap things. Interesting dialog and a good story can be very cheap. Maybe even free. They're also rare, but you get the point.

Once is a cute story, albeit cheap, and it is fairly interesting. Like nearly every other indy film with this small a budget, however, it's destined for a very small audience. It is unique, however. It's a "musical" about poor musicians. Unlike your standard American musical these people do not break into song in the middle of dinner. They just occasionally sit down and play a song on their instruments ... because they're musicians. It's what they do. The music is rather so-so (in my personal opinion), but it is heartfelt.

Glen Hansard is a nameless street musician, who meets a young Czech woman. She plays piano. He is a guitar-playing "singer-songwriter". They sort of fall for each other, but he's hung up on another girl, and she's separated from her husband. They meet, they hang out, they sing songs. Then in the big finale they record some demo tracks at a rented studio. That's it. Nope, not much happens in this story arc.

I couldn't help but think about some of my younger days on seeing this movie. The lack of money, the heartfelt expressions, the intensity of feeling, and the wandering minds and souls. It's a sweet little reflection of those sorts of days. Youth and inexperience and limitless potential. You can spend a whole night writing songs, or maybe you'll become famous, or maybe you'll just meet someone new. It's hard not to smile when you think about times like that, and it's hard not to smile while watching this movie. But the truth told, I won't think about this film long. It's a sweet little reflection, but soon enough I'll want to get back to the nitty gritty.

Standouts: A small, sweet, creative film with integrity ...
Blowouts: ... but truth be told it's not really all that engaging.

Grade: B