Synopsis
A vacuum repairman moonlights as a street musician and hopes for his big break. One day a Czech immigrant, who earns a living selling flowers, approaches him with the news that she is also an aspiring singer-songwriter. The pair decide to collaborate, and the songs that they compose reflect the story of their blossoming love.
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Cast
- Glen HansardGuy
- Markéta IrglováGirl
- Hugh WalshTimmy Drummer
- Gerard HendrickLead Guitarist
- Alaistair FoleyBassist
- Geoff MinogueEamon
- Bill HodnettGuy's Dad
- Danuse KtrestovaGirl's Mother
- Darren HealyHeroin Addict
- Mal WhyteBill
Recommendations
- 100
Entertainment Weekly
Until Once, I'm not sure that I'd ever seen a small-scale, nonstylized, kitchen-sink drama in which the songs take on the majesty and devotion of a musical dream. - 90
The New York Times
Its low-key affect and decidedly human scale endow Once with an easy, lovable charm that a flashier production could never have achieved. The formula is simple: two people, a few instruments, 88 minutes and not a single false note. - 88
TV Guide Magazine
Focusing strictly on stripped-down performances of great music and the charming chemistry between the two leads, it's a perfectly realized yet unassuming movie that deserves to find a big audience. - 88
New York Post
What "Rent" should have been, Once is: a Bohemian rhapsody. - 80
The Hollywood Reporter
The film has enormous charm and zero pretense. - 80
Village Voice
Yet the magic of the movie is how utterly wrenching it renders these songs, which thrive alongside the film's simple, eloquent, dusky narrative. - 80
L.A. Weekly
Once feels handmade in the best sense, an impressionistic feast for the senses cobbled together from lovely grace notes and a warm palette of reds and yellows. - 75
ReelViews
This isn't a perfect motion picture but, in the midst of summer's vapid pursuit of spectacle, a movie that provides real heart and emotion is a rare find.
