Heart, Soul and Good Acting Too!

Writer/director John Carney’s Once achieves the rare feat of successfully combining a diverse spread of artistic mediums without sacrificing the integrity of any one. More impressively, Carney puts forth a bold interpretation of the musical genre moving the camera away from the studio to the gritty streets of Dublin. In doing so, Carney eliminates the familiar garnishes of the musical and replaces them with real-time footage framed by a grainy digital camera. It is precisely this move that allows Carney to remain true to each artistic element of the film resulting in a harmonious triad of acting, music and cinematography. This equilibrium, however, would not be possible without the performances of the non-actor musicians Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, whose subtle and understated performances make this film possible.

Glen Hansard (Guy) and Marketa Irglova (as herself) fill the otherwise blight and depressive urban setting of Once with a robust spirit that finds its full expression in their musical numbers. Guy is a heart-broken and struggling musician who takes to the streets to perform when he isn’t working at his father’s vacuum repair shop. Marketa is a Czech immigrant who sells roses on those same busy streets as Guy. She is also a virtuoso pianist with an infant daughter and estranged husband. Admittedly, on description alone, the film certainly comes across as having the potential to be predictable and conventional. The acting, however, infuses this otherwise typical love story with an atypical element of authenticity.

Hansard and Irglova prove their ability as competent actors when they first perform the song that will later become the title track for the film. The two are so good in this moment that it is difficult to discern whether they are even acting. They display a range of emotions from reserve, nervousness, curiosity and concentration. Carney’s camerawork compliments the actors by maintaining a delicate balance between distance and intimacy. In doing so, he never forces a romance or chemistry that is absent from the performance. Paradoxically, some of the most intimate moments of the film are those filmed from a distance.

At times, Once can come off as overwhelmed by musical performance and underwhelmed by the actors’ performance. Such a criticism, however, ignores the fragile dialectic between Guy and Marketa’s personal struggles and the music they find in common. Accordingly, the prominent role that the music attains throughout the course of the film is never uncoupled from the integrity of the script or the actors. In sum, there is never a doubt as to whether or not Guy and Marketa have the ability to transcend their isolated and alienated condition, a necessity for the believability of the end.

It is rare to find a director willing to use non-actors in today’s world of cinema. There is something refreshing about not recognizing a lead role. Too often filmmakers adopt their style to better frame the star. Once is an exemplar of all the reasons to avoid this practice proving that no whole is greater than a part.