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Once
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Additional DVD options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
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February 25, 2008 "Please retry" | — | 1 |
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| $8.99 | $3.42 |
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| $24.94 | $3.00 |
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October 13, 2009 "Please retry" | — | — |
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| — | $5.00 |
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Purchase options and add-ons
Genre | Drama |
Format | Multiple Formats, Color, Dubbed, Subtitled, NTSC, Widescreen |
Contributor | Senan Haugh, Leslie Murphy (II), Bill Hodnett, Sean Miller (VIII), Markéta Irglová, Hugh Walsh, John Carney, Alaistair Foley, Pete Short, Catherine Hansard, Mal Whyte, Glen Hansard, Pat McGrath (III), Marcella Plunkett, Krzysztos Tiotka, Danuse Ktrestova, Geoff Minogue, Praghosa, Darren Healy See more |
Language | English, Czech |
Runtime | 1 hour and 26 minutes |
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Product Description
Product Description
The Irish romance ONCE may be a musical, but it is miles away from the traditional Hollywood idea of people bursting into song. Glen Hansard (front man for indie rock band the Frames) plays the guy, a street musician who is playing for change when he meets the girl (Marketa Irglova), an immigrant from the Czech Republic. The pair immediately bond over their shared love of music (he is a guitarist, and she plays the piano), and the film chronicles their tentative relationship. Director John Carney Star Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova, Bill Hodnett, Danuse Ktrestova Special Features: Audio: Stereo - English, Spanish Subtitles - English, French, Spanish Optional Additional Release Materials: Audio Commentary - John Carney Director; Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova - Stars Features - 1. Making a Modern Day Musical Trailers Runtime: 86 minutes Year of Release: 2007.
Amazon.com
Winner of the World Audience Award at Sundance, Once starts out as a small-scale romance, like Before Sunrise, before arriving somewhere unexpected. An Irish busker (Glen Hansard, the Frames and The Commitments) meets a Czech flower seller (Markéta Irglová) while singing on the streets of Dublin. (In the credits, they're listed as Guy and Girl.) She likes what she hears and lets him know. Turns out she's a musician, too. They work on a few songs together and a friendship is forged. She lives with her widowed mother, who doesn't speak English. He lives with his widowed father, who owns a repair shop. Since he broke up with his girlfriend, the guy has been drifting, unable and unwilling to get his life in order. The girl encourages him to pursue a record deal, and the guy emerges from his funk. Then he makes a move on the girl, who rejects his advances. He's confused, but as he comes to find, there's a reason shes keeping her distance. Though Once is filled with appealing folk-pop by Hansard and Irglová (released on CD as The Swell Season), the movie isn't a traditional musical, but rather a more optimistic Brief Encounter. Filmmaker John Carney, Hansard's former bandmate, captures the real city--in all its affluence and poverty--rather than the picture postcard version. His beautifully shot film serves as a heartfelt ballad about all the underclass Guys and Girls swept aside amidst Ireland's economic miracle. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Beyond Once on DVD
Musicals on DVD
Once: The Soundtrack
More from Fox
Stills from Once
Product details
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : R (Restricted)
- Product Dimensions : 0.6 x 5.3 x 7.5 inches; 0.01 ounces
- Item model number : 2247759
- Director : John Carney
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, Color, Dubbed, Subtitled, NTSC, Widescreen
- Run time : 1 hour and 26 minutes
- Release date : December 18, 2007
- Actors : Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová, Senan Haugh, Leslie Murphy (II), Danuse Ktrestova
- Dubbed: : Spanish
- Subtitles: : English, Spanish
- Language : French (Dolby Surround), Unqualified, English (Stereo), Spanish (Stereo)
- Studio : Fox Searchlight
- ASIN : B000X1Z0BU
- Country of Origin : USA
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #26,732 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #4,452 in Drama DVDs
- Customer Reviews:
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Guy (Glen Hansard, a real musician who also appeared in the film "The Commitments"), a street busker who sings his heart out on the streets of Dublin, works in his dad's vacuum repair shop. One day, a young lady (Marketa Irglova), a Czech immigrant, begins to ask him questions about his music, his passions, the inspiration for his ballads. They form a friendship and she encourages him to follow his dream and put together a demo album. As the friendship grows, she helps him negotiate a recording studio and practice the songs. In the process, she invites him into her home, to meet her mother and young daughter. During the course of their relationship, they grow closer, but she is still married and can't let anything happen. They round up some other musicians and begin to work on the demo, to help him with his dream.
"Once", written and directed by John Carney, is a very intimate look at the relationship between these two people. A lot of handheld camera work, close shots and grungy, real locations help to give the film an incredible cinema verite look and style. The camera work is handheld, but not overly shaky, creating shots with an intimate, close appearance, really thrusting us into the middle of the action.
The relationship between Guy and Girl (as they are listed in the credits) is really an interesting one that draws you into their lives. Initially, the guy is a bit put off by the girl, she is extremely chatty and forthcoming, asking him a lot of questions about his music, why he sings certain songs, the inspiration, etc. As a street musician, he is naturally a little weary about people getting too close, he simply wants them to enjoy a little of the music and drop a couple of coins or bills into his guitar case and leave. So, the young woman who stops to ask questions, in her accented English, is a minor annoyance, until he realizes she is genuinely interested.
As their relationship grows, he feels a fondness for her, and as a single man, he naturally flirts with her. But when she realizes this is going too far, she gives him a little look, a minor reprimand, and he realizes she is right. They are friends, sharing an experience. And she is married, even if her husband still lives in the Czech Republic and they are having problems.
As they become friends, they become involved in each other's lives. He meets her mother and daughter, sees where she lives, has dinner at their house. She meets his dad and becomes involved in his making of a demo album.
When the duo shows up at the recording studio, with their fellow street musicians, the sound engineer greets them, but secretly reveals his true feelings to someone on his cell phone. He has a feeling this group is another example of people with too much ambition and not enough talent; they don't even know the technical details of recording the music. But when they start playing, he recognizes they have talent, the songs are good, and the lead singer, our guy, is quite good, so he becomes engrossed in making the demo as good as possible. He becomes a part of their team, investing part of himself in the production of the demo.
Part of the beauty of "Once" is that nothing seems forced. They don't have sex, simply to make the story more dramatic. In fact, the course of their relationship seems all the more real because they simply remain friends, close friends invested in each other's lives and livelihood. There aren't any manufactured crises involving her mother and baby or his dad. They simply struggle with real life.
Also, the music is quite good throughout the film. Guy sings a song, a love ballad he wrote for his girlfriend who moved away to London, a few times, each time making it a little better. Finally, when they record it for the demo, it is as good as it could be, with the girl playing keyboard and singing backup and the addition of the other musicians they have recruited.
"Once" is a film about the guy following his dream. He wants to make a demo and travel to London, to try to get a contract. But perhaps more importantly, he wants to reunite with his girlfriend. All he needs is a little push, a little support and guidance from a friend. He finds that friendship with the girl, his new friend who helps him realize he should go for his dream.
Fair Warning: Although using "wholesome" in the description, I have to be careful, since there's a LOT of language used that some might not want young kids hearing. But it doesn't otherwise detract from the film.
I agree with the other reviewers that it resembles Before Sunrise in realistic style and pacing--except Once uses music in place of introspective conversation to achieve a sensory magic that only music can stimulate. You don't even have to be a fan of this kind of music to experience the fullness of the story through it.
Amazon's clip of the two leads (played by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglová, neither of their characters is named) first harmonizing in the music shop is the perfect selection. It comes about 15 minutes in, and is where the film (by the director's own admission) really starts. It's a very tentative moment of connection through a song, itself of searching for connection, that evokes Trufaut's "400 Blows" in the way it brings the viewer into the equation. It's a brilliant sensory parallel: While listening to the music, experiencing each note and at the same time anticipating the next in the melody, the viewer also watches in wonderment and waiting, trying to understand what is going on between these two obscure people at that exact moment, and trying to detect what they will be in the moment after that.
The actors are both untrained, but it's neither evident nor non-evident in their performances. Sorry, that was a terribly composed sentence--what I mean is, while their performances are subtle and richly felt, they aren't "naturals" at acting; they ARE, however, naturals in their particular roles in this particular film. They just fit, and everything about it just feels right somehow. So much so that I wasn't at all surprised to discover that the lead actors were friends who met 6-7 years before, and that they began to see each other in a romantic light during filming. Hansard, 37, demonstrates an affecting hesitation and tentativeness around Irglová, who is 19, that is appropriate both for the plot, and the real-life fact that she is so young.
In the excellent commentary with the actors and director, the director notes that the original script called for a kiss, and Hansard refused and wasn't comfortable with it. The grey area of romantic appropriateness befits the plot (the title denotes man's hesitation to act, waiting for "Once this-or-that happens"), and makes the characters' interactions more interesting, striking a perfect balance between discomfort and harmony.
The fact that this was shot in 17 days for $175,000 is pretty amazing. But, again, it seems to add to the film for the better, giving it an improvisational and true-to-life feeling. The sets are real places in Dublin, adding to the sense that all this could've happened yesterday, and maybe it will happen tomorrow, you never know.
This is just one of those rare, rare movies where all the behind-the-scenes events and interpersonal relationships are so oddly, perfectly manifest in the finished product.
The DVD includes commentary by the actors and director on both the film and the songs. Subtitles are accessible in English, Spanish and French so you can follow along the lyrics. There are two brief but entertaining making-of-type featurettes as well.
My one gripe: The R-rating is truly puzzling. On what planet, MPAA? There is no nudity, not even a kiss, and no violence. Some strong language, but barely that.
Top reviews from other countries
*minor spoilers within*
Do you like music? No, let me rephrase that. Does music possess you, move you, excite you and make you feel like nothing else? Andy Dufresne in the Shawshank Redemption understood. If the answer is yes, you will get this film.
If you like your music packaged and your performers manufactured and given an image to make their product sell, this might not be for you.
Once is about a guy (we never learn his name) who busks on the streets of Dublin when he's not helping his dad repair vacuum cleaners. By day, he plays familiar songs. People give him money because they recognise the songs. By night, he plays his own material. It possesses him. He lives and breathes it. He's a conduit for this powerful expression of emotion.
He's not an actor, he's a musician (The Frames) and had a role in The Commitments.
While playing one of the songs at night, a girl (we never learn her name either) sees him performing and gives him 10c. She asks if he'll repair her vacuum cleaner.
She's not an actress either. She's a musician from the Czech Republic. The two have a real-life relationship.
A friendship is formed. She can play classical piano. They play a song together. Will their relationship become a romantic one, or is music and friendship the only thing they will share?
She helps him. He helps her. Stuff happens. Wonderful stuff.
This film captures what it's like to be a musician. If you meet the first description I mentioned above, you could easily love this film. There are so many memorable scenes. I thought about it for at least a week after I first saw it.
It won an Oscar for best song, but don't think of it as a musical. It's not Hollywood. It's not Music & Lyrics. This is real.
It's shot on a digital camera so don't expect amazing PQ. It's decent enough though. Maybe 4/5. It doesn't matter. You won't care.
The Blu-ray is region free, although the special features are PAL and cannot be viewed on a US PS3.
Je l'ai déjà visionné 2 fois et j'ai eu le même plaisir à chaque fois...donc je le recommande volontiers à qui est amateur de musique...de toutes les musiques.
Fue rodada en vídeo y eso le aporta cercanía. Quizás por eso, en esta peli se puede sentir el fluir de la vida, se respira verdad y sinceridad.
La música es preciosa, y está interpretada con toda el alma.
Los dos intérpretes hace un trabajo magnífico.
Esta película generó un musical en Broadway que lleva el mismo nombre.
La película se ha ido convirtiendo en un filme de culto. No es muy conocida por el gran público, pero, a mi entender, merece bastante la pena.
Reviewed in Spain on November 19, 2017
Fue rodada en vídeo y eso le aporta cercanía. Quizás por eso, en esta peli se puede sentir el fluir de la vida, se respira verdad y sinceridad.
La música es preciosa, y está interpretada con toda el alma.
Los dos intérpretes hace un trabajo magnífico.
Esta película generó un musical en Broadway que lleva el mismo nombre.
La película se ha ido convirtiendo en un filme de culto. No es muy conocida por el gran público, pero, a mi entender, merece bastante la pena.
Und dann gibt es Once: Wahnsinnig schöne Songs, die einen wirklich bewegen. Wie ich erst im Nachhinein erfahren habe, gabs dafür auch 2008 den Oscar und noch nie hat ein Film diesen so sehr verdient wie dieser hier.
Wer Probleme hat mit Filmen, die viel Wert auf Musik und Dialoge legen, sollte hier einen großen Bogen drum rum machen. Wer Filme nicht ansehen kann, die von der Optik her mit der Handykamera gefilmt sein könnten, sollte auch laufen und zwar weit. Wen das nicht stört (und in diesem Film passt dieser realistische Handylook sogar besser als irgendwelche Hochglanzbilder), der sollte einschalten und genießen. Dieser Film gehört zu den wenigen, die auch nach dem Abspann noch wirken, daher sollte man den Soundtrack (dem ich wie man sich vermutlich schon denken kann gleich sechs Sterne geben würde) gleich mit kaufen.
PS: Für Insider: Wer sich bei einer tschechischen Szene über die fehlenden Untertitel in der Szene wundert, die bedeuten "leider" genau das, was man schon vermutet