The FiFi Report 181

Once.  Written and Directed by John Carney
Genre: Rom Com Musical
Subtitles: You need them; Irish can be extremely difficult to understand
Who: Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova (who?)
The Plot: Dublin 2006: Down and out Girl meets down and out Bohemianboy. He is busking on his guitar. She listens. They chat, he sings. Thewhole song. From start to finish. Meet her family. Repeat. He sings thewhole song. From start to finish.They go out for dinner. He sings. Thewhole song. From Start to finish. Repeat. They hire a recording studio.They all sing. The whole song.They sing. Repeat. Sing. Talk. Sing. DrinkTea.Talk. Sing. Repeat. The end.
Acting: Are they acting?
Photography:With its use of digital video and handheld cameras,ONCE matches its spare visual style to its intimate mood. Each momentfeels stolen from real life"
Design: They live in grotty, rundown, tiny, depressing houses and drink cups of tea.
Wardrobe: She is very Ralph Lauren 1984. This is not a good thing.Long floral peasant skirts, boots, scarves and oversized men’s jacket.
Salon de Beaute: She has clean straight hair. No makeup. She could dowith a Trinny and Susannah or FiFi makeover.
Botox: You may need it: all that singing can be deafening and frown inducing.
Waterproof Mascara: No tears for comedy or for the romance. Applylashings simply because you want to look fabulous in the dark..
Blood ‘n’ Guts: No violence. Just bleeding hearts.
Tagline: How often do you meet the right person?
Mind Drifted to Shopping: After the first 4 songs. Sung in their entirety from start to finish.
Smokin’ Smooches: Not one. This, therefore, cannot officially be called a Rom Com. This is worth asking for a refund.Car chases:; there is only one car seen in this movie.
Rename It: The Sound of Music.
Tomatometer rating: 97% fabulous reviews
Best Review: "A romantic fairy tale of astonishing delicacy andemotional nuance. This movie is so good I wasn’t even bothered by[director] Carney never giving his characters names". Kansas City Star
Best Worst Reviews: "Couldn’t be less bogus if James Blunt sat on astage in front of an empty bar saying "this one’s for the lady in theback." Filmcritic.com
See it or donate to the Prada Bag fund: As sweet, charming and as Kooky as a Prada bag. Buy the bag but head to
foxsearchlight.com and watch the videos from start to finish. This is the movie.