A wonderful evening at the movies - Once Reviews

This movie was a delight to enjoy with my wife. It is that rare movie whose whole is more than the sum of its parts. It is a "reality" type show with awkward camera angles, poor lighting, and very little polish. The characters are very likable, yet flawed human beings. I don't know that either major character will find a role in major studio productions because they don't fit the stereotypical Hollywood style. The story was terrific and (thankfully) different from the traditional Hollywood fare. If this were a major studio film the couple would have been in bed by the third scene with ample nudity to "prove" their love (e.g., Little Children). Instead, we see two real humans struggling to understand the direction their lives have taken and using music as a powerful interpretive device to express and understand the world around them. Highly recommended as a date movie!

Once - Once Reviews

Though the title leads you immediately to the fairy-tale worlds of "Once upon a time..." this is a romance for real life. The film is live shot with a slight documentary feel which enhances the realness of the characters and the their interactions. It is at times both irreverently funny and undescribeably sad, though at all times the experience is brilliantly understated and subtle. The music is enchanting and memorable and I found myself singing along to a song I had never heard before. Definitely a movie experience to be cherished.

O my! - Once Reviews

This was just the lovliest and sweetest film I have seen in a long time. Being Irish and a hopeless romantic probably didn't help my objectivity, I suppose. For me, it was also just so "real". Two stangers, attracted by song to each other and finding themselves connecting emotionally, enjoying each other to the fullest in that space, "perhaps" longing for more, but staying within the boundaries of their own integrity, doing the "right" thing, and, yet, still giving the very best they had to give to each other. C.S. Lewis once said, "Friendship is the happiest and most fully human of all loves, the crown of life." Enhanced by the fabulous music, the whole experience was so simple, so loving, and therefore so very moving.

Warms up to; a-#1 story, a-#1 orginal music - Once Reviews

This is a different Movie about the creating of a new Song and the overall music/singing is the STAR. It is a modern "Operetta" of chance, love(uncompleted), outstanding visual emotions, and an overall "you are there with them" photography. It took me 20-25 minutes to warm up to the filming style, Irish accents, and casal attraction of the two leads. Then, I began to throughly love and enjoy what I was seeing, hearing, and feeling; WITH the two chacters as their love developes. It is well worth seeing twice, for the story AND the music; expecially the orginal song. Big Heart Dave.

Comprehending once - Once Reviews

The reaction to "Once" says something about us. There is real life (with all its light and dark, its beauty and despair, hope and disappointment... you get the idea) and then there is the artificial fa?ade of corporate/franchised life. When I left the theatre after this film, I called all three of my 20-something children and told them to stop whatever they were doing and go see this film ASAP. It's that good. And the fact that they will "get it", well that says something good about them and why I am hopeful about where the world might go.

Brilliantly captures the human condition!!! - Once Reviews

This movie was just simply superb. The beginning caught me off guard because it was not what I was suspecting. But it was absoltely brilliant, sad, and heartwarming. Bravo!

The music is where it shines brightest - Once Reviews

Like any film centered around a real musician, the heart of the film lies in the performances within. Don't look too closely at the acting, both leads are musicians, not actors. The lines between them often feel rigid. But when they sing together the magic happens, and it is gorgeous. The grainy handheld shots at night, with complete disregard for balanced visual composition, reminds one of Godard, and completes the aesthetic of the humanistic music.