Once Can a Film With a Budget of $2 Make It Big

   All I knew about the film Once was the 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so I had high expectations. Besides that score, I knew nothing. I mean, I knew that music had apart of it, but that was it.

   Throughout the film I enjoyed the male lead quite a bit, but I'm sorry, I couldn't deal with the foreign lead actress. Her accent, in my opinion, was a little difficult to understand at times. It's the actress, not the role if you ask me. The budget, however, did not distract me too much as one would think. Sometimes I was a little, "Ehhh, that was rough." but nothing too bad. The absolute entire time though, even with opening comedic scene, I could see this film as a play. It had the type of comedy, characters, plot, I mean, it's a musical too! I just feel this would be so great. This way it also removes the low budget that most likely distracts many. Picture it, the opening scene would just work. People who see plays expect that very same type of comedy, perhaps without the cussing, but still. Add in some choreography for the occasional songs, and voila! It can be done, and it will be loved. There were no amazing backgrounds and a quite small cast. This would be a great play for anyone. Cheap, few actors, and a great story.

   If I ever direct a play for anything that isn't my own work, this is what I'm doing. I'll show people how great this will be and you watch, it'll be everywhere.

Once

     On a list of some of the most fantastic films I've ever seen, I'd have to say Once was at the top. I was so captivated the whole time that I forgot what I was watching had a script and was considered a musical! I later learned that they weren't actors in the first place but musicians, and dang were they genuine. At first I didn't like how raw and shaky the camera was, but I wouldn't have had it any other way! It looked so real, the story was so touching, and the characters were so brilliant. I definitely need this soundtrack!!

    At the end I totally cried and found out why the title was named Once: it's an answer to the question that goes something along the lines of "how many times do you meet the someone who's perfect for you," and after that I just started bawling. It was so good y'all. I need to order it on DVD or Blu Ray or whatever the heck technology that's floating around these days is.

Once

Let me begin by saying that I did enjoy this movie, but I felt there were a lot of things that were wrong with it that haven't necessarily been addressed. So, I'm going to talk about those.

The only thing about this movie that truly bothered me were the technical aspects. Almost every shot had a soft focus, and there was practically no regard for framing a shot properly. Some of the shots looked like they were filmed off of an iPhone. The editing was also sloppy and very amateurish. I know the angle of the movie is to go for the amateur look, but editing should really go unnoticed. Choppy editing ruined the immersion factor for me at some points. It's not like the audience needs to see how bad you are at these incredibly basic filmmaking techniques in order for them to understand that this is not a Hollywood production.

However, I could forgive the movies flaws because the pros totally outweighed the cons. Once showed a raw and realistic portrayal of two human beings sharing a common goal and tells a story of heartwarming determination and desire. The actors had great chemistry and made the story feel so much more real.

Overall I would probably recommend this movie, but I can't help but feel that it's a little overrated.

Once

I just want to talk on Sundays movie Once. This was a really good movie but I was bothered by how it all played out at the end, the guitarist (played by Glen Hansard) not getting the girl, (which was played by Markéta Irglová) but more importantly the part she played in the outcome in particular. One thing about her seems clear to me, she wanted no romantic relationship with him, but it was painfully obvious that he did, so why did she put him through all this heartache. At the beginning, he wanted nothing to do with her. It seems like she was just cruelly playing with his emotions. The guy was hurting at the end but she was smiling, happy being reunited with her husband as if nothing happened. The guy left broken, but then again, he was broken to beginning with. Then I started thinking of what she said at the beginning when she threw her 10 cents in his guitar case," I see you every day playing and you never played that song". I think what she saw in him was a gifted man in pain, that give up on life. I think all her questions, prying into his personal life was really just, her trying to figure out why. It turns out that he has a treasure trove of songs that he abandoned when his girlfriend left. I think Markéta Irglová  only intention were to get him to act on his talent. Yes, just like in the beginning, the film shows him broken again but this time he's going somewhere with his talent. She seems coldhearted at first but now she seems more like a mastermind. When it comes to her getting involved in his life, I believe she was just trying to ride the rail of, not enough to get him to do anything, to just enough, for his sake.