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Hi all…

Every now and then I find a movie that’s below the radar of most of my local movie theaters. Once is one of those. It was covered in Entertainment Weekly and I’ve seen mention of it on various other movie blogs, but it never quite made it to a screen in my home town. So when it came to DVD, I added it to Netflix and watched it over the holidays.

Rating:

Before I go any further, I have to add a disclaimer here. I’m not the most manly of men. I can hold my own, but I tend to let my mind and heart do more of the thinking than other, more “testosteron-y” parts of my anatomy. That said, I admit I do sometimes cry during movies. I’m sure that with the few people who actually read this blog, nobody’s too shocked. I’m a writer, a musician, and my emotions are worn freely on my sleeves. I have no poker face.

So with that out of the way, I was pleasantly surprised by the innocence of Once and the musical journey of the two fictional characters in this documentary-style movie stole my heart. The soundtrack still echoes in my brain. I’ve had to pick it up at iTunes, have burned a CD, and play it regularly. (So far I haven’t been able to exorcize it from my brain!)

Here’s the IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0907657/

Starring Glen Hansgard as the Guy, and Marketa Irglova as the Girl, it’s a musical that covers a week or so of their lives as they meet, write, rehearse, and record songs along their journey. It was nominated for an Oscar, but also won 10 other awards and garnered 13 other nominations. The movie just has an innocence that sucks you in (if you have any romantic bone in your body) and if the story doesn’t get you, the music will (if you have any kind of musical inclination).

I can’t say enough about this movie. With Valentine’s Day coming up, it would be a great date movie to share with your sweetheart.

So if you have any kind of a romantic or musical leaning, I highly recommend this simple movie. It’s short at 85 minutes, and rated R for some language. But it’s worth seeing.

I give this a very enthusiastic 4 stars out of 4. Same for the soundtrack.

Let me know what you think!
–Fitz