ONCE

2008 Best Original Song




Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Glen Hassard: The Guy, a Dublin street musician
Markéta Irglová: The Girl, a young Czech immigrant
Bill Hodnett: The guy’s Dad, owner of a vacuum cleaner repair shop

REVIEW
What a refreshing change: most current movies tend to be lavish expensive productions with a cast of thousands (ok, I exaggerate a bit), often are way too long with convoluted and overly complex story lines, with the incessant use of the f-word and lots of computer graphic images instead of the real thing.

Well, this one is none of the above. Instead we get to see a charming film with very little plot and acting that comes across as so real it seems like the movie is a documentary. Music is a big part of the film, not surprising given the fact the story is about a talented musician. But the music is never intrusive; it just melds in perfectly with the story. All of the songs are written and performed by the principals and some are a real joy to hear.

CLASSIFICATION
for language. This has got to be a mistake! Apart from a couple of swear words right at the beginning (the guy says one JC and a GD) there is no cursing, no foul mouthed expressions, no obscene language at all. I have no idea how they came up with this classification, as there is absolutely no justification for it.

P.S.
In real life Glen Hassard is the lead singer and songwriter of the Irish rock group called The Frames. The band’s website is at http://www.theframes.ie/