Movie Log: Once

Continuing a movie-a-day pace for no obvious reason, The Wife and I saw Once on Sunday night. It's a movie which repeatedly seems like it's going to turn into a romance, but never quite does (at least it doesn't in the way one would expect it to).

Once is a movie about music -- a thirtysomething man (Glenn Hansard, an Irish musician) works in his father's vacuum-cleaner shop by day and busks the streets of Dublin by night, and runs into a young classically-trained pianist (Marketa Irglova, also a musician), who turns out to be a Czech immigrant. They bond as musicians and songwriters, and the movie has an amazing number of songs in it. It's all emotional, relationship-oriented singer-songwriter stuff, so if you can't stand that kind of music, stay far away from Once.

But these are two excellent musicians who can also act, and the music is exceptionally good of its kind. I enjoyed the movie a lot, and I've already ordered the soundtrack -- if that means anything.