Once

It was a slow morning at work so I decided to bung my copy of "Once" into my laptop and leave it playing in the background.

I ended up watching it all the way through. I love this film.

I saw it for the first time last year. My sister-in-law had given it to me as a present and, I have to say, at the time I was a little disappointed (don't tell her that!). However, she's got excellent taste and I'd heard some great reviews, but I'd also heard the negative ones so approached it with caution.

It's a Marmite film. You will either love it or hate it.

It's, and I shudder to use the word, sweet. Really, really sweet. Not in a vomit inducing way, but a warm, fuzzy, sad, funny, uplifting kind of way. A really touching tale of two ships that pass in the night. It got labeled as a musical on it's release, it's not. The music is integral but it's not a musical in the "Chicago" sense.

The plot focuses on a busker with dreams of making it as a successful musician, he's also dealing with the breakup of a long term relationship. He meets a young Czech immigrant and together they realise that they share a love of music and are both in similar emotional situations. The actors wrote and performed the songs in the film and are so talented it makes me ill.

Give it a chance. Go on.