‘Once’ is an Irish independent film that is simple yet brilliant. It is a movie-musical between 2 musicians set within the streets of Dublin, Ireland. Written and directed by John Carney, this naturalistic drama stars Glen Hansard, from Irish band The Frames, and Markéta Irglová as struggling musicians.

Set in the streets of Dublin, this film is shot in a way that replaces elegance with efficiency. It does not look, sound or feel like your usual movie-musical such as Dreamgirls, Hairspray or even the critically acclaimed Moulin Rouge. It lacks flashy effects and splashy grandeur that is evident in such films. Once is more toned down and opposes the usual stereotypes of movie-musicals. It’s a gorgeous and straightforward film that endows itself in a lovable charm that films such as Moulin Rouge could never achieve.  Once’s formula for success is simple: two people, a guitar, a piano and a whole lotta awesome, sincerely performed songs.

The opening of the film dumps the viewers right into the middle of the streets of Dublin. It is straightforward that Guy (Glen Hansard), is a busker. There is no fancy introduction or street full of dancers to dance to his music, it’s just him, his guitar and a small comedic misunderstanding between him and a drug addict. The next scene shows him still singing in the night. This marks the beginning of the showcase of his songwriting talent in the film. He stands there and sings Say It To Me Now. As he reaches the chorus, the camera dollies in shakily to him. Many people would pick on the poor camera work here as the dolly is a little bit shaky, but I would rather concentrate on the essence of this film, its music. When he hits the chorus, he sings extremely loud in the middle of the street, as if letting out a shout of despair. The despair in his voice coupled with the lyrics gave me chills. That’s the actual beauty of this movie. It doesn’t force feed us with the emotions the characters are feeling. But rather it makes us accurately infer it through the voice of the actors, the music and the lyrics. Moreover, the way it introduces the female character, Girl (Markéta Irglová) is rather straightforward too. After the dolly in, it dollies out slightly and reveals her listening to his singing. This starts the whole series of events that happen in the movie.

Apart from the story and the music, the actors were really convincing in their acting. They did what they were suppose to do and didn’t over dramatize their characters. Both Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová have no prior acting experience. However, both of them had worked with each other through Glen Hansard’s band, The Frames and penned most of the songs in the film together. And the song Falling Slowly won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The soundtrack also got nominated for two Grammys.

The simplicity of the film has easily made it one of the best low-budget indie films in the last 25 years. Its blend of comedy and romance is hard to forget. It’s a film that can be watched repeatedly and not get sick of it.

- Fong Chan Teng