Once
Year: | 2006 |
Production Co: | Summit Entertainment |
Director: | John Carney |
Writer: | John Carney |
Cast: | Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova |
Yes, Once is cute. The red-headed, unshaven, scarf-wearing Irish busker looks like a caricature of every other scruffy, roguish Oirishman ever committed to film, and when a young Czech woman makes friends with him, you keep expecting a romance that stumbles, scrapes its knees, and never quite manifests.
Quite what effect these two have on each other that had critics falling over themselves in rapture isn't clear. They do little together other than discover a shared love of music, and even after exploring it it's made little difference to their lives apart from sending each back to what looks like a fairly pitiable existence.
Of course, the above review might be coloured by the writer's hatred of musicals. If you're of the same ilk, steer well clear, as the running time consists of approximately five minutes of talking followed by five minutes of singing or music in a repeating pattern.