"Making Music"
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What You Need To Know:
MOVIEGUIDE® could recommend ONCE for its example of unselfishness and sexual restraint were it not for the unfortunate use of foul language. The movie's obscenity and brief profanity are seldom used in a brash, confrontational way. More often it is used as an adjective to add emphasis. While this may reflect what life is like in parts of Dublin, it reduces the potential audience for an otherwise entertaining story. Thus, extreme caution is advised.
Content:
(Ro, B, C, LLL, D, M) Light Romantic worldview about pursuing one's dreams with some moral and Christian elements; unselfishness is modeled as couple tries to help each other succeed; admirable restraint is shown when married woman turns down opportunity to put herself in situation where temptation might lead to adultery; 32 obscenities (including some "f" words) and two profanities; no violence; no sex and married woman keeps her marriage vows although she has a chance to violate them with an unmarried male friend who helps her career; no nudity; no alcohol use; smoking; and, attempted stealing.
More Detail:
ONCE is a warm hearted little movie about a man (played by Glen Hansard) who writes music and sings it on the streets of Dublin, Ireland. He meets and becomes friends with a musically talented young married woman from Czechoslovakia (played by Markéta Irglová). They make music together and encourage each other to pursue their dreams.
On the bright side, the script does not have them turn their mutual admiration into an excuse for adultery. Twice the possibility of doing so comes up and in both cases the characters make a conscious decision it is not the right thing to do. Ironically, while the movie is heavily laced with the “f” word, when saying no to a final visit to the man’s house, the woman says, “We mustn’t. It might lead to hanky panky.”
The man lives with his father and works at his father’s vacuum cleaner repair shop. The woman lives with her mother and daughter and sells roses and cleans houses while waiting for her husband to come over from Czechoslovakia. During the course of the movie, the woman helps get the man an opportunity to record some of his music in a studio and work toward selling his music. The man in turn gives her the chance to pursue her own musical interests.
A low budget movie that occasionally looks amateurish, ONCE does better than many big budget movies in getting the audience to care about the main characters. Viewers will wind up rooting for them to succeed with their music, even if they’re not a fan of the music itself. ONCE won the audience award as the Sundance Film Festival.
MOVIEGUIDE® could recommend ONCE for its example of unselfishness and sexual restraint were it not for the unfortunate use of foul language. The movie’s obscenity and brief profanity are seldom used in a brash, confrontational way. More often it is used as an adjective to add emphasis. While this may reflect what life is like in parts of Dublin, it reduces the potential audience for an otherwise entertaining story.