Once

I'm in love.

I haven't been hit this hard in awhile. It comes around rarely but when it does, it becomes an obsession. Many of you know it hit me hard in 7th grade, causing me to see Titanic more times then I'd care to admit. It's hit me with The Lord of the Rings, Garden State and Before Sunrise/Before Sunset, among others. And it has happened again with a little gem of a movie called Once, I'm just upset it has taken me this long to see it.

The blame lies with laziness. When Once was in theaters in New York, it was playing in only one theater and it was way downtown. Even though all I read about it said it was wonderful, I didn't manage to see it in theaters. So shame on me for being so lazy.

Now that I've seen it, the love affair has begun. If you haven't seen it, yet, rent it immediately. It follows a street musician and a young women he meets while playing as they become friends and decide to play music together. There is a scene when they are recording for the first time in a studio and the scene is almost one take of them playing the song. I haven't been enthralled like that by a single scene . . . ever. It's not just that the songs are good (I am a sucker for Irish songsmiths. Aggen even called the lead in this film a poor man's Damien Rice. I wouldn't go that far, but man he can wail!) But the passion in the scene gave me goosebumps. The movie is more than just a cute story, more than just sweet songs. It is about two people falling in love with music as they might be falling in love with each other. They don't need big budgets or grand gestures such as a chase to the airport. It just takes the two of them and a piano to create perfection.