“Once” Upon A Time
Rituparna Chatterjee gets bowled over by the most promising musical in recent times.
Once (2006)
Cut to the story. Once upon a time in Dublin, an unnamed man (Glen Hansard) earned his living fixing Hoover vacuum cleaners with his dad. Come night, and he would be singing and strumming away on his guitar expecting appreciation and if possible, some money in return. An unnamed girl (Marketa Irglova) – a Czech immigrant – struggles through life by doing odd jobs to support her mum and little daughter. Whenever she can, she plays the piano at the local music shop. Boy meets girl and the two strike a resonant chord, albeit a platonic and a musical one. Then, comes the low-key and the soul-scale climax of the film. Together they record an album and boy sets off to London to try his luck as a musician. The girl has no such ambitions and would rather stay on with her family. Meanwhile, they walk together through their past loves and their present lives.
I know, I know it sounds quite unimaginatively simple. But that is precisely where the beauty of the film lies. You have to see it to believe it. This musical is realistic rather than flamboyant. Protagonists in musicals like Chicago, Moulin Rouge or Dreamgirls, and so on, burst out spontaneously into a flashy song. But the Irish boy and the Czech girl labour endlessly on their music, much like real-life musicians themselves.
Moreover, the apparently simplistic love story is far from conventional. Writer-director John Carney depicts how a creative partnership and a genuine connection with another human being surpass trifles like plain romance and mere sex.
At first, Once appears to be a musical obsessed with music. But it really is about the deeper yearning for connection, which is the ultimate aim of any artistic effort, be it music or cinema. Or for that matter, of life itself. At the same time, it highlights the drudgery of life and briefly glances at the East European immigrants’ world in Ireland.
The magic of Once lies in the beautiful matter-of-fact acting of Hansard and Irglova. Both of them are gifted musicians who have composed the film’s music. (That explains the wonderful Grammy-nominated music score, especially the melodious number Falling Slowly, when they slowly begin to fall in platonic love). But neither of them are professional actors. This is what gives their performance a bluntness that saves the film from getting mawkish.
The film’s running time is a crisp 85 minutes. Get another musical to beat that! And that is what stops the film from droning or getting boring. As the most innovative musical of recent times, Once has set a revolutionary new benchmark for the modern musical. That is if the pompous musical delves out of its vanity to realize it. As an optimist, I see Once as a prototype of the future modern musical. Try the film once and you will want to watch Once more than just once.
My Rating: 
Your Rating
(4 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5)
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A brilliant film! hats off to the filmmakers who made it without any budget or even proper permission to shoot it in Dublin. Purely made from passion, a must watch.
The review’s as short and delightful as the movie - I agree whole heartedly.
Especially the bits about connection and yearning for it - the depth of the movie is in it’s yearnings.
Please do watch!
Another brilliant post, Rituparna. You hit the button in saying “That is if the pompous musical delves out of its vanity to realize it.” The worst show of vanity ever for me was that musical take on Oliver Twist, called simply “Oliver!”.
I’ve not seen “Once”, now makes me eager to see it.