Play it ONCE, Sam. For old times’ sake.

Movies You Should Netflix: Once
By Ryan – HodgeBlodge Romantic

If you’ve heard of the movie Once it is probably because it won the Oscar for Best Song. As you may remember there were two musicians that accepted the award—one, an Irish man, accepted first; the other, a Czech woman, was kept from giving her acceptance speech by the orchestra. Jon Stewart, possibly to keep his reign as host going a little longer, brought the young woman back out to give her speech. It was just one of those memorable Oscar moments that stuck with me in passing until recently when I finally got around to seeing the movie. Upon seeing it I realized that Jon should have also brought out the writer/director, the producer, the other band members, and the Irish man again just for good measure because the movie needs so much more recognition than just that one extra speech.

As is the theme of my Netflix recommendations, this movie could no doubt be defined as an indie movie. And per said theme, it defies traditional genre categorization. It stars no one you’ve ever heard of, and clearly was done for as little money as possible. I’ve read that Cillian Murphy was supposed to star in the lead role but when he dropped out so too did the funding—and thank god because only then did it force Glen Hansard to take over the role. Hansard is an Irish musician who was in a band with the writer/director (John Carney.) Carney wrote the movie about struggling musicians who happen to be falling for each other, and had Hansard write the songs for the film. Hansard adds what I can only describe as pathos. His struggles are believable, so are his strengths; his life is realistic and so are his screwups.

The Oscar for Best Song is not a fluke (although the Oscar-winner “Falling Slowly” is only my third favorite song of the film, 4th favorite if you include “Brokenhearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy.”) Hansard’s songs make the movie. I can’t remember the last time I finished watching a movie and immediately went out to get the soundtrack but with Once I was on iTunes before the movie was over. It’s with this in mind that I am okay with something that I didn’t expect: Once should probably be defined as a musical. It’s not gangs on the west side of New York tapping and snapping on the streets, it’s not Julie Andrews, and it’s certainly not Rent. Those are what I think of when I think of the word “musical.” Instead this was simply a movie that is defined by its music, and its music is everywhere—it makes a trip to the store to buy batteries a crucial plot point, it starts on the streets and follows through to a car stereo, it starts while you’re reading a magazine, ignoring it because you’ve heard this one a thousand times but then it changes, it grows, and it sucks you in.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that this movie made me rethink how music is made. It made me think about the thousands (millions?) of talented musicians throughout the world. It made me wonder how many have gone unheard. How many are signing on a street corner, doing a cover of a song that you know, but when you leave they start singing their own stuff—and it is better than anything you’ve ever heard before?

You might have noticed that up until now I haven’t mentioned Marketa Irglova (the Czech woman) by name. The movie starts and ends with Hansard. To us, the viewer, he is the movie, it is his story we are being told. But to the viewer, and to Hansard, everything changes when she comes along. It’s not quite of all the gin joints in the world but it’s not far off, just what is this Czech woman doing in Dublin? Was she simply plucked from the heavens just for us? Whatever the reason she is there, she was meant to be there. This may be Hansard’s story but she is the reason it is a story worth telling; she is what changes in our lives—not only in the film but she also co-wrote most of the songs. She truly enters our lives with her playing of Mendelssohn’s “Song without words.” This piano piece tells the story of the movie. It tells us that a rose doesn’t even need a name at all to smell as sweet, it tells us that love unspoken is still love, mostly it tells us that music is not just the soundtrack to our lives but sometimes it is the protagonist. Sometimes a girl walks into our lives and she changes it—sometimes she does it by song, sometimes she does it with a movie. And in Once she does it with both.