Why yes, thank you, I will be the resident chick-flick reviewer at AOTMW.  I think I’m genetically predisposed.  I’m also genetically predisposed to love Irish movie Once.  It has all the girl friendly elements:  good music, romance, and artistry, set against the unique backgrop of Irish street life.   

The movie stars real-life musicians (and partners) Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova as poor-as-dirt musicians who collaborate on a demo album.  Honestly, that’s it.  Of course, there’s the burgeoning, awkward romance that plays out unexpectedly throughout the film.  The romance is nice, but the true star of the movie is the soundtrack, with Hansard and Irglova harmonizing on haunting and emotional melodies.  There are moments, of course, when the movie lags, because it shows such gentle (slow) unfolding of their artistic partnership. But anything speedier or flashier would be an inauthentic Hollywood-ized version of poor but happy buskers.  And then, a new song swells, and you are immersed back into the story. 

As I mentioned, I’m predisposed to love this film. I love folk music, starcrossed lovers, Irish brogues, and of course, portraits of artists.  And I’m a girl.  But I will say that I did have to call “dibs” on this review, after Soulless Machine and I watched this last night.