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Once starts off as a self-confessed song on the street.

The healing has begun…

The song picks up, and the apparent admirer of the said song picks up the jhola of our street-singer protagonist instead. As the camera soon establishes it’s an indie film, we feel a little eased off, of the commercial hangovers. You know, all the discounts that come along with an indie film. What’s good here, though, is that you never think about it again. The film moves on, along the smooth strained guitar and the bearded hero.

Titles
Glen Hansard
Marketa Irglova

C from top
O from left
N from bottom
E from right

Scratching out the surface now
And I am tryin’ hard to work it out
So much is gone misunderstood
And this mystery only leads to doubt
And I didn’t understand

‘cus this is what I’ve waited for…

In come Hoovers, and self-respecting dads. Our hero would never stop crooning about anything – break-ups, his erstwhile girlfriend, his song preferences which vary by the time of the day, that Hoover shop job, and even the record he never made. There is a distinctive gaze in the camera here, when it moves unconsciously from the grand piano in the music shop to the vacuum cleaner on the floor, seemingly happy with its rejection. A brilliant song shapes up here, by the way.

Falling Slowly

I don’t know you
But I want you
All the more for that
Words fall through me
And always fool me
And I can’t react
And games that never amount
To more than they’re meant
Will play themselves out

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We’ve still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You’ve made it now
Falling slowly sing your melody
I’ll sing along

Or the scene when our hero(Guy/Glen), hoping for some divine justice, enters the heroine’s house, and find not only a boodhi maa-ji-with-broken-english,, some TV-starved padosi, but a ‘my daughter’ too(kangan kangan naa kar yaar, kangan ke sang laaya haar).
It’s a broadway musical come to handheld screen minus the hype and hungama, very subtly established in the ‘fuck you, batteries’ scene, where heroine ji(Girl/Marketa) gets up in a dreamy demeanor, cut to shopping mall, enter batteries and cut to a long shot of her singing along the un-written-upon composition of lonely, unmarried, Hoover-man with a heart-hero. The whole song might not match up to the production values of Ms. Morisette’s videos but is much more accessible nonetheless.
(excuse my Czech)

If you want me

I really hear
what am I dreaming
I can’t tell dreams from truth

If you want me

It is somehow so comforting to NOT SEE an i-POD or its related species in a music-themed film/screen excursion. It’s only the gloriously handicapped world of battery-run CD players.

SMALL LOANS MANAGER’S OFFICE

“Can I show you something?”

I wanna be free
I wanna be me
I want you to be you
Do you want me to be me
I think you do, too.
I think you do.

LOAN APPROVED!

Now let’s get a free ka band together…
That also done.
Now just a li’l mataji ka aashirwaad- on phone a-la Saawariya, and voila!

Party song!
(after 2 very bad drunk leftist croonings)
And I love her so,
I wouldn’t trade her for gold…

The Studio Sessions
Uninterested recordist. Cliched situation. The song will pick up and his eyes and old hair will light up. And tathastu! so be it..

When your mind’s made up

And the kid game sounds mixed up - Fallen from the sky

Lies - Breakfast song session with daddy, the song that also plays out the whole home video nostalgia bit a few reels earlier, with the ex-girlfriend and a much clean shaven hero.

Lies
I think it’s time, we give it up
And figure out what’s stopping us
From breathing easy, and talking straight
The way is clear if you’re ready now
The volunteer is slowing down
And taking time to save himself

So plant the thought and watch it grow
Wind it up and let it go

The film plays in Dublin(which as I just learned, is the capital of Ireland), and is historic in its exhibition and the records that it created and broke some more in the indie musical. Not the ‘hindi musical’ of the nasal variety.
I expected it to be more Italian, which it was thankfully not. It turned out rightfully Irish(I have a romantic notion of Irish). And the songs come unannounced, just like you would want them. Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy, the fun-gig in the bus is one example.

Once, as a genre film, plays its cards right. It goes along the music. And just when you expect nothing to go wrong, nothing goes wrong. The songs live their own moments. For Once, music is given a life on screen. With all the filmic elements in their sweet place, the music dominates, and rightfully so.
The story moves from lost love affairs of home video days and bittersweet memories, of unfulfilled promises, unapologetic confessions, unplanned words, to an everlasting sense of vacuum, only to be lived with an everlasting promise of faith, of songs that would echo.

Highly recommended for a Wednesday late evening.

Thanks for the lyrics:
http://www.lyricsmania.com/soundtracklyrics/once_soundtrack_lyrics_1167.html