Once
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.42 You Save: $10.56 (70%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.83 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Once
Movie Review: fine motion picture with lots of heart
Summary: 5 Stars
Once is an excellent movie about a touching friendship between a man and a woman simply named Guy and Girl. Guy (Glen Hansard) and Girl (Markéta Irglová) meet when Girl stops to listen to Guy playing songs on his guitar for money on the street. Guy and Girl form a singularly beautiful relationship and the plot moves along very nicely.
Guy and Girl come to know each other very well in a very short span of time--barely more than a week. Girl wants Guy to pick himself up and realize his dreams. She encourages Guy to make recordings of his songs with a band for a commercial CD so Guy can have fame as a musician. Guy seems confused as to whether or not Girl loves him; and there's a very well done scene in which Guy asks Girl to spend the night with him but she leaves.
Girl, of course, has her own issues. Girl, her mother and daughter are in Ireland because Girl's relationship with her husband didn't work out. Girl likes spending time with Guy; she likes getting attention from a nice man and she eventually helps him in his recording sessions.
Of course, from here the plot can go just about anywhere. Will Guy and Girl consummate their relationship? Will Guy go back to his former girlfriend in London? What will Girl do to support her child and mother in Ireland? Is there any hope for Guy to make his CD a success? No plot spoilers here, folks--you'll just have to watch the movie to find out!
The cinematography works so well partially because the hand held camera helps to set the thoughtful mood for this movie. The choreography works wonders in the opening theft scene and other scenes as well.
The DVD comes with commentaries and a couple of interesting extras about how they made the film. Great!
Overall, Once is a fine movie that people will enjoy if they like thoughtful movies about people and relationships in real life. Guy and Girl are not rich; and we see how they must work to support themselves while yearning to break free and be full fledged artists. The action moves along nicely, too. I recommend this film.
Movie Review: An Unforgettable Film
Summary: 5 Stars
An Irishman (Glen Hansard) in Dublin is a vacuum repairman by trade, but musician by heart and he plays his songs on the streets. There he meets up with a Czech immigrant (Markéta Irglová) they strike up an easy friendship over their love of music and of course, a broken Hoover.
Over the next couple of days they share their music, write songs together, and then eventually record an album. All the while they are building a friendship that borders but never crosses to romance because of his love for an ex and her rocky marriage.
The music was written and performed by the actors and the result is magical. As I sit here typing this review, the songs are happily playing in my head; memorable melodies and haunting lyrics. The credits had barely started rolling when I hopped online to order the soundtrack. He plays guitar and has a voice that is sexy and powerful. She plays the piano and has a voice that is sweet and angelic. Together they are superb.
There is something so sensual about really good music, the way every note and word can touch every inch of your soul and take over your heart. I was literally moved to tears by a few of the songs in this film, not because they were sad, though some were, but because they were so beautiful, so perfect.
Every ONCE in a blue moon I will watch a film that will captivate me from the start and stay with me long after it's over. This is one of those films. It touched me on so many different levels and evoked so many different emotions and thoughts. I will watch this movie, listen to its soundtrack, repeatedly, and never tire of it, because it's just that good.
The storyline is bittersweet and eloquent; a modern day musical about two people at a crossroads in their lives when they meet. Each one gives the other one the shoulder and the shove they need to get on with and get what they want out of life. A simple, but magnificent film with amazing music and actors; the result is unforgettable. Brilliant.
Cherise Everhard, April 2008
Movie Review: Don't be put off by the "musical" tag. My teenage son loved this one as much as I did.
Summary: 5 Stars
While this movie is often termed a musical, I think that is a misnomer. Yes, it is a film about two musicians, one male and the other female. Yes, music does play a prominent part in this film. Yes, there is one scene (on a bus as I recall) where the guy breaks into song when describing the love of his life to the girl beside him, someone relatively new in his life. Yes, there are lots of band rehearsals and all that.
But this isn't Grease or Hairspray or Les Miserables or even Sweeney Todd. It isn't THAT kind of musical. So I think the word doesn't do justice to the film. It is very watchable even for those who tend to hate musicals.
The plot, such as it is, focuses on a guy who is trying to figure out what to do with his life in the wake of a breakup. Along comes a rather chatty young woman who hangs out with him and the two hit it off. I don't want to mislead the potential viewer so let me stress that "hitting it off" is not a way of saying there is high drama and passion.
The delight of this film is that it is low-key, intentionally so (if you get the DVD be sure and watch what the director says about the film). It isn't meant to be a typical Hollywood blockbuster but more of a slice of life film.
I loved it, absolutely,totally - as did my son. He liked the music a great deal, much of it vocal music. While I appreciated that, I also enjoyed the refreshing look at two people who were helping and supporting one another as they struggled to figure out how their lives had gotten off track - and where to go from there.
I think that gives you enough of a basis to figure out if the film is worth viewing. I'd urge you to see it. If you want high drama or suspense or a mystery thriller then don't take a chance on it. If you are up for a good film, nicely done, about two people and the normal ups and downs of life (especially as musicians), you're likely to enjoy this.
Movie Review: ...and for all
Summary: 5 Stars
"Once" is an engaging and phenomenally sweet movie about young artists trying to find an outlet for their boundless need for expression. "The Guy" is a ragged Irish street singer with a beat-up guitar who reserves his own most pained and poignant works for the evening, when no one listens anyway. We encounter "The Girl," a Czech street peddler of magazines and flowers, who also has a talent for music and who is attracted by the depth of the Guy's music. Given less talented writers, "Once" could quickly have devolved into romantic nonsense. But both the Guy and the Girl have unresolved romantic commitments that prevent them from easily falling into a tryst. Watching them grapple with their love and appreciation for each other while honoring their previous attachments is one of the joys of this movie.
"Once" is basically a vehicle for publicizing the music of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová -- the leads who actually wrote most of the music in the film. One suspects that the film is a lightly veiled version of their own stories. But, the locales and characters portrayed in the film are varied and interesting. From heroin addicts, to unemployed immigrants, to street musicians and poets singing for their dinner, the film is full of characters that are real and wonderful. The music is also quite charming -- especially if you are drawn to the kind of moody, introspective folk genre that is half crazed with regret, passion and mourning over lost relationships.
"Once" is a wonderful tale of two people from different backgrounds who come together, for a moment, over a love of music. It is about getting unstuck from self-imposed limits. It is about taking chances and risking failure. It is about finding lost love and starting again. It is about life itself. "Once" is a fabulous and moving look at two people who once upon a gritty time risked all to make something beautiful.
Movie Review: 100 Stars if I could
Summary: 5 Stars
I often watch movies, good, bad, I just want to kill time after supper or after sports before. But I haven't met a lot of good movies yet, in fact, zero, in my mind. To me the worst book I've ever read is better than the best movie I've watched. When I browse the Amazon bestseller list, I skip the movie category no matter what is hot in it. I was totally disappointed with these Hollywood potboilers. I hate wasting time in selecting-watching-being-disappointed format. I love music, I spend a lot of time on Amazon music section. As far as I can tell, since last summer, Once has been always in top 100, maybe top 50. But I didn't even try the sample, because I've never heard of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.
Yesterday, when I'm doing my routine browse on Amazon, the CD finally caught my eye. I clicked the link then found it was the music from the movie Once. I listened to the samples, then decided to watch the indie(though only 4.5 stars on Amazon, but the samples from OST added another .5). It's only 86 minutes, It won't take a long time.
I didn't budge an inch on my chair during the movie, even the credits began to roll. I couldn't even believe when It ended. How can it end so fast, what's next? The movie is just incredibly beautiful, I know that foreign movies are much better than Hollywood's(Whale Rider, Pan's Labyrinth, the Sea Inside), this one is another find in 2007, I just don't know how to simplify my feelings.
The story is simple, the friendship and chemistry between two main characters are convincing and touching, the performance was down-to-earth, no exaggeration, no special-effect of course, but full of warmness and sincerity. The music is passionate and delighting. So what else do you want for a movie about real life? Conspiracy? Ghost? Exploit?
Please, drop everything and see this great movie.