In association with

Once [2007]
from Icon Home Entertainment
starring Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová, Hugh Walsh, Gerard Hendrick, Alaistair Foley
directed by John Carney

Features:

• PAL

Editorial Review:

Winner of the World Audience Award at Sundance, Once starts out as a small-scale romance, like Before Sunrise, before arriving somewhere unexpected. An Irish busker (Glen Hansard, the Frames and The Commitments) meets a Czech flower seller (Markéta Irglová) while singing on the streets of Dublin. (In the credits, they're listed as Guy and Girl.) She likes what she hears and lets him know. Turns out she's a musician, too. They work on a few songs together and a friendship is forged. She lives with her widowed mother, who doesn't speak English. He lives with his widowed father, who owns a repair shop. Since he broke up with his girlfriend, the guy has been drifting, unable and unwilling to get his life in order. The girl encourages him to pursue a record deal, and the guy emerges from his funk. Then he makes a move on the girl, who rejects his advances. He's confused, but as he comes to find, there's a reason she’s keeping her distance. Though Once is filled with appealing folk-pop by Hansard and Irglová (released on CD as The Swell Season), the movie isn't a traditional musical, but rather a more optimistic Brief Encounter. Filmmaker John Carney, Hansard's former bandmate, captures the real city--in all its affluence and poverty--rather than the picture postcard version. His beautifully shot film serves as a heartfelt ballad about all the underclass Guys and Girls swept aside amidst Ireland's economic miracle. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

• I have fast forward finger
  This film was really the most unbearable nonsense, the Irish busker/hoover repair man was perhaps the most annoying person ever. The music was awful, he must have been listening to an awful lot of Damien Rice.

• Don't believe the hype
  My girlfriend and I were really looking forward to watching this but were both shocked at just how disappointing it really is.
  First off I liked the music, it's good singer songwriter fair but forgettable. If you like Irish singers there are plenty other better ones out there.
  It's terribly shot, as a film maker myself it is just unforgivable to make a film this poorly, shooting on the worst camera badly. For me though this comes second to the total lack of narrative, very poor acting and a total... more info

• FANTASTIC PLEASE WATCH AND GET CD!
  THIS IS A FANTASTIC FILM WHICH IS REALLY UNIQUE AND CAPTIVATING! I LOVE IT AND THE CD IS AMAZING YOU REALLY NEED TO GET THIS!

• Loved it. And believe me, I hate musicals..!
  ...but I do love well-crafted films with a soul. I bought this on a bit of a whim, having heard great things about it on my indie-flick radar ( kinda like Spidey-sense ), and after a worried start, I totally fell for this movie.
  I say worried, because films about shouty Irish buskers would possibly make even me think twice, but you stick with it, and ten minutes in, you realise you are in that rare character-piece territory previously inhabited by Richard Linklater and his beautiful Before... more info

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