once upon a time

On Friday, I was talking with my friend Brandon on the phone and I wanted to know if he would be joining us at a mutual friend's place for a birthday party later that evening. At that point Brandon proposed a friendly bribe that involved watching a movie I'd never heard of prior to the party. Needless to say I accepted and, before long, we were sitting in front of the television starting the film "Once". Now up to and even past this point I had no idea what this movie was about, but it didn't take long at all to catch my attention.
The main character, an Irishman, played by Glen Hansard is so real that at times you feel as though you are in a documentary on struggling musicians. The audience follows "Guy" as he humbly tries to make a living fixing vacuums and playing guitar on the streets of Dublin. We catch a glimpse of how charming and sympathetic this character is in the first scene, where he chases down a man who tried to steal change out of his guitar case, only to give the man a little of the aforementioned change. At this point he commands your admiration, given the assumption that nearly all of us would jab the guy before giving him a bit of money.
Shortly after that, we are introduced to "Girl", the awfully straightforward Czech immigrant who has such a captivating way about her that the audience (along with Boy) is drawn to her and enchanted by her (and her music). Which brings me to the next point. The music. If you absolutely do not want to see this movie, at least buy the soundtrack. It will be worth it. His rugged vocals and guitar accompanied by her haunting voice and piano is something I don't think I will tire of in the near future. All in all, if I had to describe the film in its entirety or at least the genre of the film I think I would say... Indie-musical? It's hard to describe. Just go rent it.