One of the most delightful and surprising films to come out last year was Once, the charming tale of the relationship between a Dublin busker (Glen Hansard) and a Czech girl (Marketa Irglova) he meets on the street.
Featuring songs by Hansard and Irglova, it is a music film without being a musical and was a big hit at Sundance back in January 2007.
So much so in fact that Fox Searchlight released it to rave reviews and the film won a lot of fans, including none other than Steven Spielberg who said:
“A little movie called Once gave me enough inspiration to last the rest of the year.”
It recently won an Oscar for Best Original Song with Falling Slowly:
It also provided one of the most memorable moments of Sunday’s ceremony as host Jon Stewart allowed Marketa Irglova to come back on stage to finish her speech:
I spoke with the director John Carney about the film when it got released here back in October, which you can listen to here:
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Once is out now on DVD
> Buy Once on DVD from Amazon UK
> Read reviews for Once at Metacritic
> Download the interview with director John Carney as an MP3 file