Once at Symphony Space

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Once

Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space
13; Members $9; Kids/Seniors $11 Get two tickets per film for an entire year for just $111 with a Thalia Film Pass! (Limit of one screening per film.)

film

Thalia Docs

21cc

Can't get tickets to this Broadway musical that just won the Drama Desk Award for Best Musical and 8 Tony Awards? Come see the original film that inspired the live musical!

2007. US. John Carney. 85 min. Color. Starring Glen hansard, Markéta Irglová, The Frames.

Academy Award: Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award: Critics Choice Award, Best Song
Chicago Film Critics Association Award: Best Original Score
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award: Russell Smity Award, John Carney
Dinard British Film Festival: Special Mention, John Carney
Dublin International Film Festival: Audience Award, John Carney
Florida Film Critics Circle Award: Best Original Song
Independent Spirit Award: Best Foreign Film
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award: Best Music
National Board of Review: Top Independent Films
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award: Best Original Song
Sundance Film Festival: Audience Award, World Cinema, Dramatic
Grammy Awards: Nominated for two awards

"I gave it my Special Jury Prize. Magical from beginning to end. It's one of those films where you hold your breath, hoping it knows how good it is, and doesn't take a wrong turn. It doesn't. Even the ending is the right ending, the more you think about it." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

"(Once is an) Irish musical that struck a lyrical chord at Sundance. Cut through the Spidey-Shrek hype and seek it out. You won't be sorry. It's a magical, beguiling wonder. When I say Irish musical, think U2, not Riverdance, and get set for a gift of a movie that is absolutely worth seeing more than once. The Frames frontman Glen Hansard as a Dublin songwriter who takes his guitar to the streets and sings himself hoarse to deaf ears. That is, until he meets a pretty Czech pianist (Marketa Irglova) who gives him the guts to quit his dad's repair shop and t finding the bucks to make a recording. That's it, a bittersweet love story with ravishing Hansard music ("Falling Slowly" is a killer) and the ache of romance in its soul. Nothing about this mood piece should work - the budget is shoestring and the actors are inexperienced. But Once brims with small pleasures that pay major dividends. Carney, who played bass for the Frames till 1993, is a filmmaker to watch. Blending the hip and the heartfelt, the tough and the tender, he creates a movie you want to hold close." - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

"Once is an unpretentious slice of musical, romantic enchantment that's low-key in concept but completely winning in execution. It's also the first film in years to mix music and story in the light-fingered way Richard Lester did in the faster-paced Beatles classics.
This film's plot may be romantic, but it's modern enough to avoid playing out the way audiences will anticipate. The music is so satisfying and the characters so appealing that we believe this is all happening right in front of our eyes. We fall for each of these young people at the precise moment they are falling for each other - and what could be better than that?" - Kenneth Turan, NPR

"Periodically - about twice a year, by my calculation - someone tries to breathe new life into the movie musical by putting together a lavish song-and-dance spectacle like the ones they used to make, full of big numbers and bigger emotions. Against this trend, "Once," a scrappy, heart-on-its-sleeve little movie makes a persuasive case that the real future of the genre may lie not in splashy grandeur but in modesty and understatement.
It is not a film with any great ambitions to declare, or any knotty themes to articulate. It celebrates doggedness, good-humored discipline and desire - the desire not only to write a song or make a recording, but the deeper longing for communication that underlies any worthwhile artistic effort.
The special poignancy of the movie, the happy-sad feeling it leaves in its wake, comes from its acknowledgment that the satisfaction of these aspirations is usually transient, even as it can sometimes be transcendent." - A.O. Scott, The New York Times

A modern day musical set on the streets of Dublin. Featuring Glen Hansard and his Irish band "The Frames," the film tells the story of a street musician and a Czech immigrant during an eventful week as they write, rehearse and record songs that reveal their unique love story.