REEL CRITIC:’Once’ is a film to remember clearly

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie quite like “Once.” An Irish street singer/songwriter meets a Czech girl with musical background, there is music and romance, they fall in love with each other and at that same exact moment, we fall in love with them.

Not so unique, you might think, but it really is very original and compelling, and took me completely by surprise. The interesting thing is how the music tells the stories in the film; not like a ‘40s musical where the actors inexplicably break into song and dance; and not like “Saturday Night Fever,” where the music is a character itself. This music plays into the film in a different, personal, happening-insideeveryone-all-at-once way. As these two people, whose names we never learn, (they are Guy and Girl in the credits) get to know one another, the music grows up around their connection organically, and we are the lucky, invisible ears that have the distinct pleasure of being in the same room while it happens.

The relationship between them is pretty outside-the-box, too. He is still pining over a lost love, the back story of which we see in a beautiful, intimate video montage set to one of these heartbreakingly simple love songs — almost a mini-operetta in 2 minutes. She has a daughter, a mother and a husband back in the Czech Republic. Both are still working on their feelings about these relationships just as this new one emerges, and all the pieces of all the broken hearts are part of the satisfying mix that leads up to the very surprising ending.

This story feels real because it is real. The guy is played by Glen Hansard, who, it turns out, is the actual songwriter and sings in the film. Well, that makes sense. He is actually a member of the Irish group “Frames,” as is the director of the film, John Carney.

Hansard also did some musical collaborations with the girl, Marketa Irglova, whose on-screen presence is oddly blunt, engagingly direct and sure-footed. You would never know she was only 17 when this film was made.

Clearly forged in the fire, this one.

There are no good-looking actors (yes, they even have British bad teeth), no hot costuming (they clearly dress for warmth in Ireland, even inside) and not a lot of snappy dialogue. Between the achingly beautiful music and the simple, grounded nature of the storytelling, this film is exactly the right size, shape and sound to experience and remember clearly, always.