Friday, 11 April 2014

Once

(2007)

RATING:80%
FORMAT:DVD

Believably-funny platonic romance about two musicians who meet by chance on a Dublin street.

The basic theme is one of harmony between empathic – albeit lost - souls; emphasised by the quality of the music and the wordless, almost silent movie style expressionism of the film. An interesting mix of The Commitments and Close Encounters of the Third Kind in its rigorous focus on melody as a universal means of communication.

Song here partly becomes a solace as well as a means of self-expression as each comes to terms with individual emotional traumas and angst-ridden personal crises. These are well brought out in this genuinely-brilliant piece of cinema in fine music and natural performances from all concerned. Proof that a slight storyline and a modest budget can still work wonders in a film that does not outstay its welcome with an overlong running-time.

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Science:



No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.



Jacob Bronowski… (1908 - 74), British scientist, author. Encounter (London, July 1971).


Sleep of Reason:



The dream of reason produces monsters. Imagination deserted by reason creates impossible, useless thoughts. United with reason, imagination is the mother of all art and the source of all its beauty.



Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes… (1746-1828), Spanish painter. Caption to Caprichos, number 43, a series of eighty etchings completed in 1798, satirical and grotesque in form.


Humans & Aliens:



I am human and let nothing human be alien to me.



Terence… (circa 190-159 BC), Roman dramatist. Chremes, in The Self-Tormentor [Heauton Timorumenos], act 1, scene 1.


Führerprinzip:



One leader, one people, signifies one master and millions of slaves… There is no organ of conciliation or mediation interposed between the leader and the people, nothing in fact but the apparatus - in other words, the party - which is the emanation of the leader and the tool of his will to oppress. In this way the first and sole principle of this degraded form of mysticism is born, the Führerprinzip, which restores idolatry and a debased deity to the world of nihilism.