take this sinking boat and point it home

so in the first (i think) somewhat off-"topic" post this year, i'm going to write about the movie "once". essentially a 85 minute long, somewhat cheap-looking ($160,000 cheap) music video, it nevertheless made the top ten list of 2007 movies for a pretty impressive list of film crits. which is somewhat interesting.

when i saw it, it was clearly a dvd copy. but it was pretty obvious why it doesn't matter, cos it's shot (i think) on digital tapes. there's no studio lighting used at all, and not in a barry lyndon kind of way either. all the sets look "natural", meaning they are pretty much actual places that the filmmaker borrowed. it stars 2 inexperience actors, and is set in a pretty nondescript part of dublin, ireland. there's really not many good reasons to like the film.

but nonetheless it is extremely charming. there is something extremely disarming about the premise of the film's style. the camera, being of low technical quality, achieves a very good fly-on-the-wall effect (except for the last "crane" shot at the end which would have cost something like a third of the budget or something). there is this realism to it that's conveyed by the awkwardness of the characters responding to the situation, but not to each other, which is very wonderful. and even with a few somewhat dubious directorial decisions (did we really have to see her walk the entire way back from the convenience store?), it felt natural and, for the lack of a better word, wholesome.

there is so little fuss in the movie which is somewhat refreshing. the plot is simple to the point of being unbelievable, but the music saves the day and you gladly suspend your disbelief. at the end, the ending, as unsatisfying as it is, feels appropriate, since reality is about these bittersweet endings. it doesn't say anything about serendipity, or chemistry. the movie is about love, but love as something that's hard, that takes effort and persistence. it's about emotions and music, and the only unrealistic effect is how the two seems so easily bridged. but nevertheless, it's about cathartic release, from which the two lead characters have to return.

i realize i'm quite incoherent. i've been imposing too much of my own beliefs on what the film is about. every kind of emotion implies a certain obligation to yourself. when you start to feel something, your entire being must be ready to rationalize it, or to give in to it. you must fight to make it real, to realize it. that's what i believe now.