Pop opera

I love everything about John Carney's Once, from its concept and writing, to the directing -- and especially the performances of its two leads, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, who play two musicians estranged from their "significant others" who meet and click musically and become friends. I call it a "pop opera" because songs are integral to the development of the narrative, music is at the root of the story on many levels. The "once" in the title refers to the magic that can happen "once" in an encounter (for "forever" as Hollywood has it) but that has no future. Everything happens in a short time, now, intense and real, even life-changing ... but then the individuals must face their pasts and move on, alone. This is an intense and real, even sensual, love story with no more sex than a kiss on the cheek, which is no small accomplishment in today's world of erotic hype.

It's not for everyone. During the credits, a woman behind me said, in that tone of voice reserved to comments on the dress or hair style of another, "I love your new ..." (when the tone is pulsating with pejorative subtext), "Wasn't that cute?" Then, on the way out, we met friends of H's who said, "The music was so awful! So intense!"

I didn't expect to like this in the first several minutes of the film. The music was the issue. God, do I have to listen to this street singer for two hours? But it ends up he is talented (the leads wrote most of the songs themselves -- indeed, their characters are called "guy" and "girl," suggesting they played themselves) and his songs have great variety. And when the two are together, musical magic happens.

What a fine genre-bending film!