Once is the type of movie that sounds really iffy on paper, but by the time the credits roll, you're thinking "Wow, they really pulled that off." Once is the story of an aspiring singer who spends his days playing his guitar on the street, singing cover songs for spare change. At night he sings his own compositions, one of which captivates a cute little naif who happens to walk by. They get to talking and pretty soon find themselves in each other's company day and night.
The narrative plays out literally like an album with both characters intermittently breaking out into song. It's a musical, but not in the typical way. The characters don't talk to each other and then begin spouting exposition in song. The songs just naturally happen within the space of the story. It wouldn't work if the songs weren't good and thankfully all of them are quite catchy. The guy (who along with everyone else is oddly never named) has a good voice that breaks into the occasional falsetto (spurring some critics to compare him to Chris Martin of Coldplay, but it's not like Chris Martin has exclusive use of falsetto or was even the first to popularize it--hello, Thom Yorke?). The girl is also a good singer and musician in her own right. Neither are professional actors, but they do a great job and I never once felt the chemistry between them was feigned or exaggerated.
Seeing this movie is like stumbling upon a great little restaurant that nobody knows about. You want all your friends to know about it and support it, but you don't want to over-hype it for fear that people will raise their expectations too high. So I'm not saying it's the best movie I've ever seen, but it's the kind of movie that makes you feel like the world is a pretty decent place for at least an hour and a half. And who can ask for more than that from a flick?
Also, "Okay, f@ck this." might be my favorite line in a movie this year.
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