Once!
Click to view(http://youtube.com/watch?v=_LMv0BOKkWc)
Okay, I know I'm a little behind with this one, but Becca and I saw Once on the weekend. It's an absolutely marvelous little film. The plot, basically, seems rather commonplace - guy meets girl, they start to develop feelings for each other, and make beautiful music together.
One of the things I really liked about this film was the simplicity of it all - from the plot, to the way shots are organized, to the casting, everything has this minimalistic sort of feel to it. You really get this feeling that the makers of the film knew what was important to them (the character relationships and the music), and everything else exists solely to support those things. The filmmakers made the kinds of decisions that, when they don't work, can seem aggrandizing and self-serving; but here they work well, so you get something else entirely.
The music is really one of the highlights of the film as well - both leads are musicians, so this shouldn't be a surprise. What's interesting about it, though, is how different it is from your typical musical - here the music is a central element of everything that the movie's about, and it would be hard to imagine understanding these characters without the music there as a soundtrack.
Overall: recommended. Especially so to anyone who enjoyed movies like Before Sunset or Lost In Translation, as well as anyone who loves singer-songwriter type music, or loves watching the creative process unfurl itself.