Once

The uniformly great things being said about Once must be true because I want to recommend the crap out of it. Recommend it until my voice is hoarse and people stop taking my calls. I didn't read much beforehand, preferring to watch the film preconception free. Its billing as a musical was already a hurdle to overcome without adding in a host of critical opinions to weigh throughout. Truthfully, the music is so well-integrated that Once seems like a regular film, heavy on music, rather than a musical with snippets of plot cropping up between songs. And it's good music that you'd listen to otherwise (kudos Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova).

So many things ring true in the film, it's hard to know what to highlight. The ending is notable because it's right. Whether you're happy or unhappy with the conclusion, the rest of the film won't be tarnished. You'll still appreciate all that came before for its sweetness and natural feel.

Love stories in films are often portrayed so similarly (meet cute, wooing, obstacles, more wooing, union/parting) that the familiar patterns obscure the feelings behind the experiences. Characters are thrown into situations where movie laws dictate that they'll fall in love, but the audience doesn't always get a sense of why these two, specifically, should be together. What makes Once stand out isn't so much that it deviates from the pattern but that it allows its characters breathing room in their reactions to it.

It's incredibly difficult to demonstrate the inner workings that cause people to fall in love. You can't get that close. The director, John Carney, comes very close in an early scene when Hansard teaches Irglova his song, Falling Slowly, and the two sing and play it together on guitar and piano. The camera stays on them nearly all the way through and shows her frequently looking at him to be sure they're in sync. In performing the song, they are creating something unique together that can't be duplicated exactly with anyone else. As metaphors for falling in love go, it's about as accurate as you can get. The film is as much a love letter to music (how it's made and used to communicate) as it is a love story. Carney has a musician's background and it shows: without music this story couldn't be told.

The 2008 Oscars will be historic in that they won't see me totally indifferent to the Best Song category, thanks to Falling Slowly's nomination (it's also up for a Grammy). The Once website offers a free download of the song and has all the film's songs posted for listening. Visit often. Most importantly, in case I haven't been clear, watch the movie.