Once

Director: John Carney
Country: Ireland

A street musician (Glen Hansard of Irish band The Frames) meets a young immigrant girl (Czech performer Markéta Irglová) whilst performing an original song late one night on the sidewalk. They quickly become friends, and she encourages him to record a demo of his works. The movie moves along, with the songwriting process reflecting their brief love story.

John Carney, ex-bassist for The Frames decided to make this film in collaboration with Hansard, and the musical background of both made for an unconventional approach to the musical genre. The experienced musicians playing both of the main roles are only amateur actors, so instead of breaking into song-and-dance every once in a while, there is more of a focus on how their lives affect their songwriting. This results in a beautiful and seamless story that also happens to be a musical by nature. Despite the lack of acting experience in the main cast, the chemistry between the unnamed guy and girl is perfect, and it comes to no surprise that the two are now dating in real life.

This is a great movie, and easily the best musical I've seen since Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark; I strongly recommend it to everybody.