Once (Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová)

(Amazon UK link)

We wanted a reasonably short DVD to watch, and the film ‘Once’ is just 83 minutes. We hadn’t seen it since 2014 and couldn’t remember it at all, but coincidentally had seen a trailer for it on a different DVD that we re-watched recently. So we knew it involved music and a possible romance, but not much more.

It opens with a guitarist busking in a street in Dublin. Glen Hansard plays the main protagonist, although we never learn his name. He’s being approached by someone who looks a tad dodgy, and they have an exchange with such strong Irish accents that we couldn’t understand a single word… other than a repeated strong expletive. There’s a dramatic chase, with yet more incomprehensible dialogue other than swearing.

This turns out to be the prologue for the film, and involves the only conflict of the entire film. The guitarist is singing when a Czech immigrant girl (whose name we also never learn - played by Markéta Irglová) stops to chat. They don’t exactly have any rapport, but when she learns that he’s a vacuum cleaner repairman during the day, she asks if he would look at her broken vacuum cleaner.

The girl is also a musician - a pianist - and agrees to accompany the guy in making an album, which he hopes will make him rich and famous. And that’s basically the whole story. There are moments of mild humour - when she treats her vacuum cleaner as if it were a dog, or when he asks if she composed some Mendelssohn music she was playing - but they are rather outnumbered by tedium.

The film is supposedly a ‘modern’ musical, but the camera work is shaky in the extreme, making me feel seasick in a couple of places. And the musical interludes are far too lengthy - the music is perhaps the best part of the film, although it was hard to tell the difference between some of the songs. But the two main characters are talented musicians. However the dialogue is, for the most part, trite and says very little. Much of it could have been cut. And though the music was well done, I didn’t much like the style, particularly the high notes of some of the songs, and the accompanying images are unoriginal and repetitive.

It’s not often that I keep glancing at the clock during a film; it felt like a very long 83 minutes, and very little actually happens. It wasn’t dreadful - other than the irritating use of the same expletive over and over - but I never could quite believe in either of the two characters when they were together. They went well musically, but although they converse naturally as friends, their personal ‘romantic’ chemistry is non-existent - I had no idea whether or not they would eventually get together.

There are some mildly interesting scenes in their homes - the guy works with his father, the girl has a mother and young daughter - but nothing that really builds character, and nothing unexpected. It’s not that I like conflict, exactly, but with no real story, and no problems occurring (other than in the prologue - and that one is quickly sorted) we didn’t feel particularly interested.

One of the reviews on the back of the DVD says that it’s worth watching ‘twice’.; I suppose that’s meant to be a kind of joke related to the title of the film - but perhaps it’s also prophetic. Having now seen it twice, we have no plans to see it again.

Really not recommended. 

Then again, it’s been very highly rated by others, so maybe we were missing something…

Review copyright 2022 Sue's DVD Reviews

Once (Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová)

(Amazon UK link)

Amazon recommended this film to me; the blurb and most of the reviews suggested that it was a gentle, touching love story about two lonely people who discovered each other through a shared love of music. So I put it on my wishlist and was given it for my birthday earlier in the year.

We saw that it was rated ‘15’, so were prepared for a certain amount of ‘adult content’; what we did not expect was that the film would open with a string of profanities. We saw a street musician (Glen Hansard) strumming his guitar, and swearing at the passers by if they seemed in any way to threaten him. At least that’s what we assume; the accents were strongly Irish, and the ‘f’ word was, unfortunately, the only thing we could make out.

The busker - we never learn his name - is thrown ten cents by a Czech girl played by Markéta Irglová (we don’t learn the girl's name either, although these two are the main characters throughout). They strike up a conversation in which he reveals that his main job is fixing vacuum cleaners, and she asks if he will mend hers. She returns a day later, vacuum cleaner in tow (literally) and they visit a music shop where she shows her talent on the piano.

Then they decide to make a recording together, haggling for the price of a recording session at a local studio, and pulling in various other random buskers to help…

It’s a nice idea; these two lonely people become friendly, talking together about their past and difficult relationships that they still regret, interspersed with the busker’s style of music to help them explore their feelings. I can see why it was so popular and highly rated by many; the two are talented musicians, and some of the songs won international awards. It’s billed in one of the extras as a modern day musical; perhaps that’s what it is, although it doesn’t function in any way like musicals of the past. The songs are good but not catchy; there’s nobody leaping into choreographed routines, and while there are some visual sequences during some of the songs, they’re rather hit-and-miss, and somewhat confusing.

Perhaps the worst thing about this was that the camera was continually shaky. It looked at first like an error, but continued throughout; my husband felt queasy at times, and I had to close my eyes when it got particularly bad. I realise that this is a popular ‘technique’ with some young people but it’s highly disturbing to others.

The ‘extra’ documentary explained that this was done on a very low budget, filmed from a distance, and mostly ad libbed. Neither of the two main cast are actors: it was thought more important to use good musicians. This explains why much of the dialogue seemed unnecessary, not taking the story anywhere. I did like the chemistry between the two characters, but apparently they are good friends in real life.

It was oddly appealing and we kept watching, although the songs were too similar for my taste, and went on too long, and there really wasn’t much plot. It could have gone one of two ways (they get together or they don’t…) and it went the way I wasn’t expecting, but worked quite well, though it was a bit abrupt.

At one stage I’d have given this two stars, but I think three is probably fairer; it’s an interesting and thought-provoking story, and the music parts are well done. But the bad language - which recurred through the film, though only that one word, over and over - was extremely irritating and entirely unnecessary; I assume it was put in so as to raise the rating from PG to 15 (R in the US) as there is nothing else that could warrant even a 12 rating. In addition, the constantly wobbly camera was highly disturbing.

But by all means watch it once if you can deal with the bad language and wobbly camera; it's unusual, and oddly haunting.

Review copyright 2014 Sue's DVD Reviews