Once

I watched a movie for the third time in the theater today. I would think that's pretty unusual these days with the rising cost of movie tickets and the increasingly mediocre quality of movies making it to production. but this one was/is different. The movie I'm talking about is called Once.

The story is simple and yet effective. Girl meets Guy. Guy is singing songs on the street corner. Girl gets Guy to fix her vacuum cleaner. Guy finds out Girl is a musician/songwriter like him. Guy and Girl get together to write songs and record a demo. Guy and Girl's lives are changed forever by their meeting each other.

The truly great part about this movie is how it intergrates the music as a part of the film experience. The two main characters (not named anything more than Guy and Girl even in the credits) are writing songs throughout the entire movie. When they sing, not only does the music become the soundtrack of the movie it almost becomes another character in the film. The song lyrics seem to narrate the feelings and thoughts that the scenes try to portray visually. This was the first time I have seen music used in this manner and it was amazing.

I hope everyone gets a chance to see this film. I recommend finding it when it comes out on DVD if you can't catch it in the theaters. A definite MUST see.