Jodi and I got Once from NetFlix this last week. I didn’t know what to expect, I only knew that it was about an Irish musician, and that it had gotten some awards.
Once starts out slow, with a hand-held documentary (read, “cheap”) feel that puts the viewer in intimate proximity to the two protagonists, credited as “guy” and “girl”. Indeed, names are never used in the movie, and rather than distance the audience (ok, Jodi and me) from the film it kept us curious. The whole film is an exploration of a friendship and the music that draws two different individuals together.
The movie progresses linearly, but the driver is not as much a plot as a series of musical vignettes that simultaneously speak to the characters relationship to each other as well as to the relationships that define each of them. Jodi and I were marveling at this simple film that keeps pulling the viewer in close, sharing moments both quiet and full of passion.
We loved it, and I bought the Once soundtrack the next day. It’s as good as I expected, featuring all the songs from the movie pretty much as they appeared in the film (including “Broken-hearted hoover-fixing sucker guy”!)
Check it out - if you can get past the full-bodied profanity, the film is refreshingly lacking in Hollywood sensuality and cliche - I think you’ll love it.
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