Ideas in art are contagious. A total stranger can instantly connect and slowly get into the groove because the ideas of art might sink so perfect and brilliant that it is love at first sight. The musical ignite in between a Guy (Glen Hansard) a Girl (Markéta Irglová) is magical and instantaneous. They both share those few days wherein they do not discover intimate connections in between them in emotional level but on a musical level. When some one gets so synced up with the same art in a manner other one can easily tangled and mesmerized there blossoms love without any saying. “Once” directed by John Carney unravels those as a back ground with music taking the center stage. Art is an expression of emotions. Mainly it originates when some one is in real pain. Here the guy tells the girl that most of his songs are towards his cheated love. He says he does not love here anymore but beautifully inspires himself to write songs seeing the videos of her when they were together. The girl pretty much keeps everything to herself. She is the better one in handling the emotion against the reality. She already has been fooled by it when it ended in a child pushing the father for their marriage. We do not get to know whether she really loves her husband who is not living with them.
The charm and connection of each other definitely makes him to make the move but more than emotion it is the void created by being lonely. She gets offended and he feels stupid. The movie does not go in analyzing the situation rather it is drawn on the pieces of music. My immediate feeling after watching the movie is that it is a music video with few dialogues in between and then I came to know from wikipedia.org that the director calls this movie as “video album”. Yes it is.
Making a music video has its difficulty of conveying the contents in very short period. Here the movie places it as scene of transcending emotions. Of course we have seen similar movie structure in “Hustle & Flow”. Out there more than the music, it is the fight by a single man from a background which brings him down every moment possible. Here the guy is singing in streets mourning for his lost love. He works with his father and lives above the shop. His financial status is not good but there is no hindrance from his social status.
He decides to record some songs before he can go and win his girl friend from London. He asks the new friend to join in it. They hire a band that plays in the streets as well. The recording goes perfectly well. Quite honestly a musical recording session does not go as a single smooth first flow as they show in the movie. The sound engineer does not believe as they show immediate signs of inexperience. But the energy and synchronization with the connectivity of these two makes the scene a musical flamboyance with tingling tunes of tangerine sensation. The sound engineer does not jump around to say how good it is. He asks whether he wrote the song and when he says yes, he says it is nice. Yes, it is nice. It is not extraordinary musical work as that of pertaining to excellence. The songs are small liquid chocolates melting its way through the milk and dissolving slowly and happily. They are no Mozart pieces or colourful display of dances but simple, emotional and merry music. Along with that when some one brings in the frames of ease, mellow and laid back connections, it is different and is like a carriage ride into the cities of lights on a perfectly set night of celebrations.
The idea of home video style cinematography might not give the professional look but suits the scenario quite well. When the movie starts and these two characters meet sweetly to discover each others passion for music, it seems to be headed on a way of melodramatic emotions. The movie is not about that. Both of them know the limitations and the future ahead of them. More than the guy it is the girl who thinks well and way ahead. She knows that and consciously spaces herself. Yet she befriends him and assists and encourages him in subtle and explicit way. There seem to be flirtation on the margins of responsibility. We do not know each other’s intense love for their broken relationship. Both are fragile and the music while develops the crack even more but also builds it in a very new unknown level where both instantly dwelve, “Once”.
2 comments:
Good review. I thought Once was a masterpiece. It's hard to compare to biopics about world-famous musicians - like Ray or Walk the Line - but when you take those out of the mix, I'd say Once is the best...
Thanks Paul ! As you said, yeah it takes immense work to give something which is not a biopic but still has the emotions and zeal in every bit of it. I thoroughly enjoyed every song and its picturization. As you have said in your blog, I might see it again for sure ! Keep coming and do post and feedbacks ! Appreciate it !
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