Once (John Carney) - part 2

-----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.