Once

As Jude said, there's a reason why they didn't title the movie "Twice", or "Thrice"; I knew how the movie would end but that didn't stop my heart from aching by the time this little gem was over. It was quite simply- how shall I say this... enchanting.

I've had the soundtrack to the film for several months now and it's a beautiful album in and of itself. But with the film, it takes on a whole different dimension and becomes almost sublime. Some people have been saying how wrong it is that Once isn't nominated for a Golden Globe in the Comedy/Musical category; but it isn't really a musical, not in the Hairspray/ Dreamgirls sense of the genre. In those movies, actors burst out into song as an extension of their characters and the narratives; in Once, the music is the narrative. It represents all that must be left unsaid- all the tremulous emotions, the quiet intimacy, the knowing understanding of what cannot be. There are no huge emotional outbursts, no dramatic climax, no outright declarations of love even; at the end of the day, like a similarly understated and bare-bones love story, Once is a love story distilled to its most basic core- a sweet and sad story about two soul mates meeting, making music, falling in love, and moving on.

I seldom go through all the extra commentaries that come with DVD releases, but watching the ones for Once really gives you a sense of why and how the movie turned out the way it did, i.e. simply and wonderfully beautiful. It's just a lovely take on film-making and music-making in general, and even days after watching it, it continues to haunt me...

I don't know you
But I want you
All the more for that
Words fall through me
And always fool me
And I can't react
And games that never amount
To more than they're meant
Will play themselves out

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice
You've made it now

Falling slowly, eyes that know me
And I can't go back
Moods that take me and erase me
And I'm painted black
You have suffered enough
And warred with yourself
It's time that you won

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You've made it now

- "Falling Slowly", Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová