Once Upon a Time

In a generation where music is heard through ipods and expensive equipment, the beauty of listening to a record player is often disregarded. Yet many consider the small imperfections to add to the quality of the music. The same can be said for cinema. Recently, films have been reduced to pieces of amazing cinematography, and close to perfect digital editing. It leads to the question, when art is created, is the process considered art?

The film Once highlights a story where an Irish, street musician meets a Czech woman who inspires him to record his music. Due to several performances of full songs, the film is reminiscent of a music video, where the visuals in the film aid the performance of the music and not the other way around. The film quality itself is very low budget. The whole film seems as a home video, the irony is that a home video is shown during the film and is of even lower quality. The camera is often shaky and sloppy. Several times, the characters heads are cut out of the viewing screen and the camera doesn’t always capture the best angle for the audience’s pleasure.
Yet that added to the general attitude of the film being a home video, an insight into the process of creating music with a touch of human drama. There is a scene with a party at someone’s flat. The shot opens with a big stuffed bear in the hallway showing the random objects and clutter that are in most peoples houses are seen, not a clean cut room where every item is a prop.
The storyline was also very realistic, having awkward moments while the characters were becoming acquainted. As the characters grew more comfortable with each other, their personality was shared to the audience through to one another in serious conversations on busy sidewalks and cafes. The camera catches glimpses of these conversations as if on the outside looking in. It somewhat seems voyeuristic to have a camera following while they go about their business.

The main characters, the Irish guy and a Czech girl, are played by Glen Harnsard and Marketa Irglova respectively. The guy lives with his dad, who owns a vacuum repair shop and the girl lives with her mom and her son. The girl’s difficult life is slowly revealed. She has to work odd jobs as a street salesman and a housemaid to support her mother and daughter. The music she creates with the Irish guy seems to be an escape for her. She creates lyrics for a song “If you want me, satisfy me” which portrays her feelings and emotions for either the guy or her child’s father, which we aren’t completely certain. The guy also uses the music as a shield. On a public bus, he makes fun of his tragic experience with his old girlfriend singing “Fuck her, she’s gone” in heavy metal.

The interactions with all the other minor characters are also very realistic, such as when the storekeeper says to the guy “yur gorgeous” when he tries on a suit, it provides a second of comedic relief that has nothing to do with the story. Although the characters achieve their goals, it is shown that they are still not completely happy about their situations in life. In this way, the small imperfections seem allowable in this film especially for being low budget. The awkward moments, the sad and angry moments seem to capture the humanity. Perhaps the audience can also find an escape through the music and emotions that are presented.