It's the late evening in Dublin and there's a Guy playing a guitar and singing on the street, the Guy is bearded, his guitar has a gaping hole in it and he is singing with near religious fervor. The only person watching him is a teenage Girl who happens to be selling magazines nearby, she drops him a coin and asks him "Is that your own song?". She is shy yet spunky, turns out she's also a talented musician and this is how the story starts out.

'Once' is one of those films that suddenly appears out of nowhere and charms the socks off you. An indie production made with a budget of less than $160,000, 'Once' is one of the most refreshing, honest and weird-in-a-good-way films that I've seen in a long time.

The story isn't much of a story, but the pacing follows 'Before Sunset'. The difference here, is that instead of talking for one day, there is singing instead. It's kinda like a series of interconnected music videos, where the music actually is relevant and makes sense. Unlike over the top and high budget movies like 'Dreamgirls' or 'Chicago', the characters actually have reasons to sing, the film cleverly takes us to locations and situations where it feels extremely natural for someone to be making music. The film also has a quirky sense of humor that works well, the Girl drags a broken blue vacuum cleaner around like a pet dog (there's a reason) and later as she goes to the store to get some batteries in her PJs, the camera zooms out to show her walking down the street in bunny slippers.

Fans of the Irish band The Frames will probably recognize singer Glen Hansard in the main role. The actors are untrained, but the long lens and the naturalistic settings help make their performances touching. Shot on location with mostly friends and family in the parts, most of the cast speak with authentic Irish accents, Markéta Irglová (17 at the time) plays the part of a single mother and an Czech immigrant remarkably well. It also helps to know that the chemistry developed by the two leads spill over to real life, Glen and Markéta became an item after the film was completed.

Part of what makes Once so great are the songs, original compositions written mostly by Hansard. The songs have a theme of love, loss and longing, fitting perfectly into the plots and subplots as a myriad of human relationships are examined. Some of the scenes do complement the film along with the hauntingly beautiful sights of a city at night and the irish countryside.

The film obviously wants to send a message here, you only need good songs and the will to perform to make good music. The Girl has to play on pianos in music store during lunch time because she can't afford one. And they recruit their band from the street, another group of buskers. Yet the earnestness that emanates from these two will put most professional musicians to shame. 'Falling Slowly' won the Oscar for best song, and they deserved it.

Once is a great movie, and I highly recommend anyone who hasn't watched it to catch it now.

As usual, click on the poster to check it out on Amazon.com. Also check out the OST here