BuzzFlash Reviews
"Once" the DVD
BUZZFLASH REVIEWS
Excerpt from Rolling Stone:
It's a magical, beguiling wonder. When I say Irish musical, think U2, not Riverdance, and get set for a gift of a movie that is absolutely worth seeing more than once. The Frames frontman Glen Hansard stars as a Dublin songwriter who takes his guitar to the streets and sings himself hoarse to deaf ears. That is, until he meets a pretty Czech pianist (Marketa Irglova) who gives him the guts to quit his dad's repair shop and start finding the bucks to make a recording. That's it, a bittersweet love story with ravishing Hansard music ("Falling Slowly" is a killer) and the ache of romance in its soul.
Excerpt from the LA Times review:
Do you believe in magic? Do you think small can be beautiful? Are you looking for a little film you can make your own, an enchanting, unpretentious blend of music and romance you can watch forever? If you do, "Once" is about to come into your life and make it whole.
The deserving winner of the world cinema dramatic audience award this year at Sundance, this Irish film is low-key in concept — "a simple, classic story of two artists falling in love" says writer-director John Carney — and thoroughly winning in execution. Its tone may be sweet and gentle, but it has the grit to resist going exactly where you'd expect it to. And it's the first film in years to mix music and story in a light-on-its-feet way that calls to mind Richard Lester's much faster-paced Beatles classics.
"Once" not only has a ton of melodic singer-songwriter music from Glen Hansard, lead singer of the Irish group the Frames, and Marketa Irglova, a young Czech musician he's collaborated with, it's also got the bottled in bond naturalness of these two as its stars. Which was not at all the way the film was supposed to go.
Filmmaker Carney, himself a former member of the Frames, first thought of using Hansard only for his songwriting skills but at a certain point realized that the singer, who had a small role in Alan Parker's "The Commitments," would be a better choice than more polished professionals.
Both Hansard and the remarkably poised Irglova, who was only 17 when "Once" was shot, bring an unforced intimacy to the film that is one of its strengths. Seeing their characters interact during the pivotal week they get to know each other is to be in the privileged position of eavesdropping on some of life's smallest but most memorable moments. We invest in these people completely, and they do not let us down.
Excerpt from the New York Times review:
Periodically — about twice a year, by my calculation — someone tries to breathe new life into the movie musical by putting together a lavish song-and-dance spectacle like the ones they used to make, full of big numbers and bigger emotions. (See, most recently, “Dreamgirls” and, before too long, “Hairspray.”) Against this trend, “Once,” a scrappy, heart-on-its-sleeve little movie directed by an Irishman named John Carney, makes a persuasive case that the real future of the genre may lie not in splashy grandeur but in modesty and understatement.
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Hansard, who performs with the celebrated Irish band the Frames, is a natural onscreen. He never seems to be acting, adding to the feeling of watching a home movie. Irglová has an open trusting face, and her authentic accent makes for some endearing line readings. When the violinist invites her over to his place, she replies in charmingly broken English, "For what -- just hanky panky?''
Like Guy and Girl's budding relationship, "Once'' speeds by. Don't go expecting some musical extravaganza. This is a very little film with a very large heart.
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