Is it possible for a film that is 88 minutes long, with two unknown leads, portraying characters named Guy and Girl, playing a guitar and piano, to express more truth than any film I think I have ever seen? My heart says yes. Here's my proof: (Contains Spoilers)

    After its Oscar win last night for Best Original Song with "Falling Slowly", I felt it was necessary to write a special tribute to the film. The two stars, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are independent musicians who made the film back in 2006 for less than $150,000. Hansard, known for being in the Irish band The Frames, teamed up with Irglova and co-band member John Carney (who directed the film) and decided to promote their music through a romantic-musical. You can read the plot in my review , which I left simple because the plot itself is simple. But now that I have seen the film at least ten times, I don't want the experience to become just a memory, so why not write more about the experience?

    When the story begins, we see The Guy recovering from his girlfriend's betrayal. He is still in love her and writes songs in her memory. When he is playing one of his songs on the street, a Czech girl (Irglova) is attracted towards his sound. She finds out that he works in a Vacuum store and instantly jumps at the chance to see him again with "I have a broken vacuum cleaner. You can fix it for me?" He agrees out of her kindness and his loneliness. The next day they get lunch and he discovers she plays the piano. She takes him to a music store where she plays (she can't afford one herself) and the two learn about life and love through the Academy-Award winning song "Falling Slowly." The lyrics are about reaching for dreams and never giving up...

I don't know you
But I want you
All the more for that
Words fall through me
And always fool me
And I can't react
And games that never amount
To more than they're meant
Will play themselves out

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice
You've made it now

Falling slowly, eyes that know me
And I can't go back
Moods that take me and erase me
And I'm painted black
You have suffered enough
And warred with yourself
It's time that you won

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You've made it now
Falling slowly sing your melody
I'll sing along

    Through music, the two form a bond that goes deeper than sexual, and different than ordinary love. The tagline "How often do you meet the right person?" is a message not only signifying love, but that the two have found a person that will push them towards their dream. For him, it’s being a recording star. For her, it’s about raising her family. They both know they can love each other now until eternity, but they understand why this cannot happen. Both are worlds apart, unable to afford each other financially and socially. She is in fact legally married. She has separated with her husband, but wants it to work for her child. The Guy knows that he cannot afford his dream by working in a vacuum repair shop with a broken heart from another relationship. So the two spend one electric week together, created for them by God himself, to let their minds open up to the possibility of a future they hoped for. When they record the song "When You're Minds Made Up" in a recording studio, the guy has made up his mind to follow that musical dream, while she will try to work out her marriage. The message is secretive and can be argued, but I think they realize that as soon as the song is over. When they almost finish a whole weekend in the studio, the two talk about what a future would be like if they were together. He wants her to come to London. She agrees under one condition: "Can I bring my mother?" The two laugh and head back to reality. They separate soon after to live out alternate, yet essential dreams.

    What makes Once so perfect is not just the story in the film, but also the story of the film. It had a small shot of getting any real recognition, but it captured almost every critic who saw it (stands at 98% on RottenTomatoes.com) and grossed almost $10 million. I think the Academy couldn't avoid its charm and made the right choice by making it an Oscar winner.

    Once may be covered with realism, but it has the sense to keep the imagination open. On the surface, it is a simple story of two musicians spending their days playing music and working jobs for little to no money. But looking past its premise, it is an intimate study of relationships, big dreams, possible hopes, and a moment in time that defines the exact humanistic quality our creator had intended for us in the first place: A touch of heaven on earth.