Once

Once is a low budget movie/musical set in Dublin and starring Glen Hansard, lead singer of The Frames and Marketa Irglova. It's directed by John Carney who used to play with Glen in the Frames and is marked as an up and coming director and one to watch, apparantly. The film won the World Cinema Audience Award at the Sundance Festival this year and I was really excited about seeing it, as I'm a well documented Frames fan!

I remember when it was being shot in Dublin 2 years ago, I know where I was when Glen was doing the busking scenes on Grafton Street. I also knew all the music featured in the movie very well as well as the majority of the locations where it was located. For this reason I found it to be a personal film and I really enjoyed watching it.

The story is best described as a snapshot of two people's lives. A moment in time when two paths cross and how they were both affected by it. It also shows a side of Dublin which I in my cosseted world just wouldn't know in an intimate way. It shows the poor of Dublin, the immigrant community, the disenfranchised and the lonely.

The music is mostly taken from an album written by Glen and Marketa called the Swell Season. I think it's one of the most beautiful albums I've heard in a very long time and I just don't get tired of listening to it.

The film itself is very simpy made. Glen does a good job in his role and is a fantastic live performer. But Marketa steals all their scenes together. She has a very pure and sweet voice and a quiet clarity of beauty that is very attractive and compelling.

It's a film I would happily recommend to anyone even someone with an anti Frames prejudice.