Movies |
Once
By
Published: Mar 30, 2022
Category:
Drama
There are movies that friends tell you about, and if those friends are forceful or more people make the same recommendation, you rouse yourself and stream it or buy a ticket, and if the movie turns out to be terrific, the next thing you know you’re posting on social media about it.
This is called “buzz,” and it’s a very good thing indeed — media companies hire consultants, often for impressive sums, to create that spark.
In 2006 “Once” didn’t have that support. Or stars. Glen Hansard was the lead singer of The Frames, a terrific Irish band sadly unappreciated outside of Ireland. Markéta Irglova was a 17-year-old Czech high school student who had never acted before. The title of the movie seemed prophetic: It refers to talented artists who put off their career by saying “once” they get this and that sorted out, but never succeed because they’ve put it off too long.
For the longest time, the future of “Once” looked bleak: straight to DVD. Then the film was invited to Sundance. It won the Audience Award. Fox Searchlight bought it. And as “Once” went out into the world, it became a cause.
“Two people, a few instruments, 88 minutes and not a single false note,” A.O. Scott wrote in The New York Times.
Bob Dylan arranged to have the two leads open for him on part of his world tour.
Steven Spielberg: “This little movie gave me enough inspiration to last the rest of the year.”
Audiences took to it like a beautiful orphan. This “little movie,” filmed, in 17 days, on a $150,000 budget, took in $23 million in theaters. And then “Falling Slowly,” the song from the movie, won the Academy Award. Watch the trailer, and you’ll understand.
I’m a sucker for emotion that feels authentic, so I was absolutely enchanted by “Once.” [To buy the DVD from Amazon for a bargain price, click here. To rent the video stream, click here.]
The story is so simple that John Carney, who wrote and directed the movie, scribbled the outline in a cafe… in five minutes. The characters are nameless: He and She. He’s a singer. His girlfriend has left him. He’d like to make a record and get out of Dublin. Right now, he repairs vacuum cleaners and sings on the streets. Her situation’s just as dim. She may dream of music, but she’s in an alien culture, separated from her husband; she sells flowers and cleans houses to support her kid and mother. They get together to make music, become collaborators and friends, their songs propelling the plot. But the big question — for the audience, anyway — isn’t how their demo tape will be received. It’s whether they’ll become lovers. [To buy the soundtrack CD from Amazon, click here. For the MP3 download, click here.]
At the start of the movie, Markéta Irglová seemed like her character: a young woman of modest charms and uncertain talent. By the end, I was convinced she was the most beautiful woman in the world, a great talent and a deep soul. Love? I was besotted. And Glen Hansard was the ultimate admirable guy: smart, resourceful, realistic, emotionally aware.
And what music! Hansard started strumming his guitar, and I got weepy. Then he started singing, slow as a nursery lullaby:
I don’t know you
But I want you
All the more for that
Words fall through me
And always fool me
And I can’t react
And games that never amount
To more than they’re meant
Will play themselves out
Take this sinking boat and point it home
We’ve still got time
Raise your hopeful voice, you have a choice
You’ll make it now
Falling slowly, eyes that know me
And I can’t go back
And moods that take me and erase me
And I’m painted black
You have suffered enough
And warred with yourself
It’s time that you won
There are, I think, only two responses to feelings this directly expressed: cynicism and acceptance. Friends, this cynic was overcome: I blubbered. And I wasn’t the only one.
