I had pretty high hopes for this Indie Irish musical romance after seeing the trailer a couple times, but I ended up being severely disappointed. It reminds me of unpleasantly earnest earlier times in my own life. It's just way too faux serious for my tastes anymore. As a matter of fact, as I was watching it, a word came to me to describe it -- a word I've never actually used before in my life in writing or conversation -- but a word which accurately describes this movies tonal fault...

Once is way too twee.

It's a darn shame too! Because the idea is a great one for a romance: two off beat misfits, recovering from failed romances, meeting through a shared love of song - right through the whole recording studio sequence. But, alas -- as it turns out, this movie which aims to be "real" ends up striking a false note. Hollywood's recent take on a similar story idea... Music & Lyrics, ended up having much more real heart.

But then again, what do I know? I bet if you're in your 20's/30's and still going through your earnest phase, you might just bloody well love it...

As for me, I'll take my ROM with a lot more COM these days, and rate this sour tune:

2 out of 5.

Don't ya know it's not polite to ask a lady her age?

Well, ya got the fact that this movie seems to be universally loved by everyone but me, going for you...

Constant comparisons to Before Sunrise/Sunset keep my hopes up very high for this.

And remember Loyal, Apocalypto and Idiocracy were in Bradley's Top 3 of 2006 - his opinion isn't always right!

Au contraire...

(BTW... I loved Before Sunrise/Sunset!)

Ha!

I just might be anticipating this more than any summer blockbuster.

In Dallas again?

No need to "Ha" for my benefit -- as I mentioned in my review above, I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear that some will love this Once. As a matter of fact, I hope you do -- I hope everybody loves every movie they see. I wish I had loved Once too -- I certainly went into it with high hopes, and a love for the genre. But as I mentioned elsewhere, it's nothing compared to Before Sunset/Sunrise -- the true classics of the just met films (though of course, they substitute philosophy for song)...

I fell asleep. Granted I was tired. but for I fell asleep! i never fall asleep at the movies. it was boooooring.

I really want to see this. Too bad it will never open in my area. It looks sensational and (pretty much) everything I've heard about it makes it sound spectacular.

it's still playing in berkeley. yayayay. i get to see it!

berkeley, i suspect, has the BEST selection of current indie film for a city of its size... barely 100,000!

ohlala.

i think this opens next month in australia. loved the trailer.

I couldn't help thinking of before sunset/sunrise from the trailer.

Now that I've actually seen the movie I can say that the two have very little in common.

It defnitely helps to have a passion/love/admiration for music. The music is superb...I'm kinda hoping just MAYBE the soundtrack ends up getting an album of the year grammy nomination.

I was a bit surprised by how thin/simple the story was but I guess that's the case with most musicals and this happens to be the second best I've seen so far this decade.

A-

Saw it over the weekend.

I didn't fall in love with it like I wanted to, but I certainly did love parts of it.

The music, though. Oh, the music. They had me from the first song at the piano. The album is so good.

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are on Letterman tonight.

WATCH.

Ugh, "Falling Slowly" is such a lovely song done live.

I finally saw it hours ago.

Can't believe it took me from may to september to see this.

Oh and Christian: apparently, 3 weeks ago they both came to the landmark and performed in that wine lounge.

Ok, so I didn't actually think the film was that great. It was nice, short, and sweet but there wasn't much to the film itself. But the music I fell in love with. The music certainly lived up to and exceeded my expectations. I already bought the album

I guess the music is the film but I was expecting a little more from the story. Not a love story. Just some story. I actually like how they didn't go the romantic way.

I won't.

The narrative (or "story") of the movie isn't important, and it shouldn't be docked because of a perceived deficiency in it. The content of Once is found in the music and the camera. If you need a typical narrative structure to facilitate your enjoyment of a movie --- eek!.

Hmm.. I should elaborate a tad more. I also realize I came off not liking the movie in my post and that was not how I felt.

I thought the movie was good. And I don't disagree that the music was all it needed. It worked. It was very good. I liked it. I was just, I guess, expecting more from the film itself SOLELY based on all the praise and such. I knew the music was a big part of the movie, I just wasn't expecting it to mostly be the movie. And in that regard I was a bit underwhelmed. But I definitely enjoyed it and it helped alot that it was probably my most comfortable movie-theatre watching experience ever.

*listening to soundtrack as we post*

I'll take it now, too. Begrudgingly of course.

Glad to hear!

So which song(s) do you think have the best chance at a nomination/win?

I'd disagree with that, but if Once can get equally big fans for its style as well as its meat, it might just be unstoppable. Both corners covered!

WHAT?!!?

Yep. One of the worker bees told me while trying to make small talk as I waited for my pizza. Their margarita pizza wasn't bad at all. But wayyy overpriced.

People are ignoring the fact that at the end of the day it plays like your average musical (even if it's better than your average musical and breaks away from many of its conventions) . Plot and character development are advanced THROUGH the music, it isn't there just to sound pretty in the background.