In 2006, a little indie that could showed up in theatres and showed the overbloated producers of Dreamgirls and Chicago exactly how a tiny little musical with no budget but tons of heart could completely capture an audience. Made for just $160,000, this film was so underfunded that the lead characters couldn’t even afford first names – they were simply called The Guy and The Girl.
Apparently they couldn’t afford tripods either, because the whole movie is so shaky that it was only through sheer will and my love of Glen Hansard that I could even stay in the theater. But I can’t really fault this film for going this route, because really? $160,000? How is that even possible? That’s not even the catering budget for some movies. Much of Once was actually shot on the streets of Dublin with very long lenses so that people in the street didn’t even know a movie was being filmed, thus eliminating the need to pay extras or acquire permits.
Glen Hansard founded the Irish band The Frames and wrote the music for the film. The song Falling Slowly went on to win the Academy Award for Best Song in 2007 (Tanks! Tanks so much!), but don’t overlook the equally enticing Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy, which should have won an award for best title. Hansard was also in the Best Irish Movie Ever, aka The Committments. What ever happened to Jimmy Rabbit?
Barf Bag Ranking: THREE BAGS. This one is very hard on the eyes but great for the ears.
flicksthatmakemesick.com 
ive seen that movie a few times by now and i never noticed the camera shaking. it must be a tough being a movie buff and having to nitpick every film you see lol 🙂
I’m not even sure that the shaking is perceptible to the naked eye. It’s something that the brain registers that sends a direct signal to my middle ear or something like that. On a film like this, I can be halfway through it and then suddenly realize how sick I feel. And as far as the nitpicking goes, it’s not just movies – I do that in real life, too. Just ask my kids.