-----Part 1-----
As I have mentioned in my previous installment, Once has its defining moment when the possibility of further romantic development between its two characters was squashed, for good and for the better. It's this scene that I'm talking about:
During the break in between their recording sessions, the girl went out of the studio and found a grand piano in a darkened room. Noticing her there, the guy asked her to play one of the songs she's written. She sang and played a song about the frustration at a relationship that didn't work, but stopped midway when her feelings became too overwhelming.
In your typical romantic drama, a darkened room and a damsel in distress is a sure recipe for the ensuing kiss. However, in Once, that situation didn't lead to anything more than the guy providing comfort for the girl. Thus, the film is saved from the cliché ending we've watched too many times before. Besides, I think it's going to be paradoxical if the movie doesn't end with the girl being reunited with her husband, considering that one of the songs ("Falling Slowly") is about saving "this sinking boat and point it home."
But of course, it's not simply the plot or the ending that makes Once such a good movie. There's the music, obviously. The songs are pleasant to the ears and they are performed beautifully. The actors' acting quality is okay, I guess, but their musical performance is brilliant. Maybe it has something to do with their being professional musicians in real life. (To put it in another way, musicians first, actors second.) Some musicals use songs as tools for storytelling, but in Once, songs are incorporated in a natural fashion. Songs were sung because the characters were busking, or rehearsing their performance for the upcoming recording session, or trying out a duet at the music shop. This movie is more on the lines of The Sound of Music, say, than Grease or Mamma Mia.
Another thing about this movie that merits a credit is its ability to portray what should've been the dispiriting aspects of life--represented by backdrops such as the once-grand houses turned into flats or cramped workshop filled with broken vacuum cleaners--without leaving the audience with a sense of dejection. The general atmosphere is of optimism and warm feelings, as apparent in the girl's openness and cheerfulness, despite a life that was definitely not easy, having to work two jobs to support her child and mother in a foreign country.
To sum it all up, this is one movie you've got to watch. Elegantly simple, unpretentious, and yet profound.
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Once (John Carney) - part 1 3/01/2011 10:18:00 PM
Note: This installment is divided into two parts. The first is a synopsis, pretty much. The second part consists of my personal opinion about the movie.
A guy and a girl met on the street of Paris, fell in love, and then lived happily ever after. How's that for a story! Well, Once is a story about a girl and a guy, alright. And they did fall in love with each other, sort of. And maybe they really lived happily ever after anyway, just not together. And the city is Dublin, not Paris. (God knows why people dub that particular place "the city of love". Why not Pondicherry, or Perth, or Portsmouth?)
So, a struggling singer-songwriter was out busking one evening, singing quite emotionally at the top of his lungs, when a girl came up to him and commended his performance. (These two shall remain nameless to the end.) The praise was taken rather sarcastically though, since the girl only gave her 10 cents. The girl retorted that if he's only into making money, he should've got a job in a shop or something. The guy said that he did have a job repairing vacuum cleaners. As chance would have it, the girl had a broken vacuum at home. She cheerily promised to come by again the next day with her vacuum in tow so that he could fix it up for her.
This initial exchange led to a friendship. The guy eventually found out that the girl was a musician (although she didn't identify herself as one, merely stating that she knew "a little" about music), playing the piano. And the girl found out that the guy's songs were inspired by an ex-girlfriend, who had cheated on him with another man and was living in London at present. Noticing that he hadn't been over her, the girl suggested that he followed her to London. She also pointed out that he should've tried to push his music through a record company or something, considering how good it was.
Although reluctant at first, the guy finally decided to go to London to pursue both goals--winning his girlfriend back and making a music career--but not before he made a proper demo tape. With the help of the girl and three other street musicians, he got to a recording studio and played his songs for taping, even winning the support of the previously apathetic studio engineer.
All through the movie, you can see how the two main characters' feelings for each other developed. One particular scene in this respect is when the guy asked the girl how to say "Do you love him?" in Czech, "him" being her husband back home in her old country. (Surprise, surprise, the girl's got a husband. Yes, she had a kid, but the audience--well, I, anyway--were led to believe that she was unmarried.) After answering, the girl said another thing in Czech but refused to translate it for him. What she said was, "It is you I love."
However, the feelings they had for each other didn't materialize into something more. After they finished recording, the guy invited the girl to hang out with him, since he's going to London the next day. She refused and said that it would only end up in a "hanky-panky", which would be worthless, at any rate. She also revealed that his husband's coming to Ireland, and that they're going to try to work things out. Even though she promised to come over to his place that evening, she stood him up in the end. He failed to meet her one last time prior to his departure, and there's no tearful reunion in the airport, either.
The penultimate scenes of the movie showed the guy going away to catch his flight with wistful smile on his face, while a piano--a gift from him--was delivered to the girl's home, received with much appreciation on her part.
I can't say that I'm surprised or disappointed with the movie's somewhat "unresolved" ending, though. A defining moment in the studio room ensured that that's how the movie's going to end. Thank goodness for that, or else it's going to be just your average romantic flick instead of the truly memorable movie that it is.
-----Part 2-----
A guy and a girl met on the street of Paris, fell in love, and then lived happily ever after. How's that for a story! Well, Once is a story about a girl and a guy, alright. And they did fall in love with each other, sort of. And maybe they really lived happily ever after anyway, just not together. And the city is Dublin, not Paris. (God knows why people dub that particular place "the city of love". Why not Pondicherry, or Perth, or Portsmouth?)
So, a struggling singer-songwriter was out busking one evening, singing quite emotionally at the top of his lungs, when a girl came up to him and commended his performance. (These two shall remain nameless to the end.) The praise was taken rather sarcastically though, since the girl only gave her 10 cents. The girl retorted that if he's only into making money, he should've got a job in a shop or something. The guy said that he did have a job repairing vacuum cleaners. As chance would have it, the girl had a broken vacuum at home. She cheerily promised to come by again the next day with her vacuum in tow so that he could fix it up for her.
This initial exchange led to a friendship. The guy eventually found out that the girl was a musician (although she didn't identify herself as one, merely stating that she knew "a little" about music), playing the piano. And the girl found out that the guy's songs were inspired by an ex-girlfriend, who had cheated on him with another man and was living in London at present. Noticing that he hadn't been over her, the girl suggested that he followed her to London. She also pointed out that he should've tried to push his music through a record company or something, considering how good it was.
Although reluctant at first, the guy finally decided to go to London to pursue both goals--winning his girlfriend back and making a music career--but not before he made a proper demo tape. With the help of the girl and three other street musicians, he got to a recording studio and played his songs for taping, even winning the support of the previously apathetic studio engineer.
All through the movie, you can see how the two main characters' feelings for each other developed. One particular scene in this respect is when the guy asked the girl how to say "Do you love him?" in Czech, "him" being her husband back home in her old country. (Surprise, surprise, the girl's got a husband. Yes, she had a kid, but the audience--well, I, anyway--were led to believe that she was unmarried.) After answering, the girl said another thing in Czech but refused to translate it for him. What she said was, "It is you I love."
However, the feelings they had for each other didn't materialize into something more. After they finished recording, the guy invited the girl to hang out with him, since he's going to London the next day. She refused and said that it would only end up in a "hanky-panky", which would be worthless, at any rate. She also revealed that his husband's coming to Ireland, and that they're going to try to work things out. Even though she promised to come over to his place that evening, she stood him up in the end. He failed to meet her one last time prior to his departure, and there's no tearful reunion in the airport, either.
The penultimate scenes of the movie showed the guy going away to catch his flight with wistful smile on his face, while a piano--a gift from him--was delivered to the girl's home, received with much appreciation on her part.
I can't say that I'm surprised or disappointed with the movie's somewhat "unresolved" ending, though. A defining moment in the studio room ensured that that's how the movie's going to end. Thank goodness for that, or else it's going to be just your average romantic flick instead of the truly memorable movie that it is.
-----Part 2-----