Musical romances are tough to sell to today's audiences and they are usually awkward. That's why "Once" is such a delight. "Once" tells the story of an Irish musician (Glen Hansard) who falls for a classically trained piano player and Czech immigrant (Marketa Irglova) living with her daughter and mother. The two discover a surprising musical compatibility as well. A small independent release that disappeared from theaters as quickly as it opened, "Once" is one of those films that you can delightfully discover as it moves on to its second life on home video without feeling guilty about the quality. ***

Hansard who plays in the rock band Frames brings his character to life as much through song as he does through performance. Written and directed by Hansard's band mate John Carney, the film takes a bit to take off but once it does it soars. This isn't your fantasy musical however and Carney doesn't shy away from showing the hardship that two street musicians face in a world that largely gives them an unsympathetic ear. ---

Image & Sound:

The film looks quite good on DVD considering its low budget nature and feeling that it was shot on the fly. Audio sounds quite good as well with a crisp, clear quality that one might not expect on an independent film such as this. ---

We get an animated commentary track by director Carney and his stars. They discuss everything from their characters in the film to making music. There is also a track specific commentary track with the trio as well. "Making a Modern Day Musical" is a very good featurette that focuses on the challenges that Carney faced with the musical genre as well as the difficulties he and the cast faced in trying to pull it off convincingly. "More Guy, More Girl" focuses on the unnamed main characters and their relationship. We also get the web featurette "Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy" and the ability to download via your PC another web featurette which I didn't have time to review. Finally we get four trailers for unrelated but thematically similar films. ---

Final Words: