I haven’t had many great loves in my life but I have had a few minor loves. And while usually I don’t talk much about my personal life here, as seems to happen for those of us who watch movies for a living, my life has crossed into the world of fiction through a story called Once by John Carney.

You might know it from the Academy Award-winning song, Falling Slowly, from the tiny Irish movie in 2008. It was recommended to me through my 2-year meme project (which has dragged on into year 3 because I’m blog-lazy, as AJ pointed out) by fellow film blogger Chuck Tryon. But the idea that prompted that post was transcendent media—a movie or song or book that transcends its genre to be something of universal truth, or something that moves one outside of a comfort zone to connect with others. Whatever. It doesn’t matter what it transcends so long as it makes a difference to you. I wanted to see if any of the things that move my blog readers would move me, and that was happily the case with Once.

Which is what brings me back to the minor loves of my life. They have converged on me this very month! The third anniversary of my blog, also incidentally seems to be the Bermuda triangle of exes. Without bothering to go into the details, I’ve managed to keep the door just open enough with too many half-wits who decided now was a good time to get in touch with me. They were wrong. I’m tired of that crap. I need a new ex, at least.

And then I watch Once. A guitar player on the sidewalk plays his songs and a woman who really enjoys his music pushes him to open up about the source behind it. It turns out that lost love fuels his music, and the young woman who is so interested in the music also has an interesting love history. She is separated from her husband and living with her mother and toddler in a new city.

When our scrubby Irish musician delves a bit into her life, he finds out that she plays piano and sings in perfect harmony with him. The music is wonderful and romantic; the filmmaking is assured and seamless. They fall in love over their failed loves and through their connection in music. My emotions were so easily led through the story. They shared a wonderful moment in time, but their lives are complicated and the moment can’t last.

I guess that is a spoiler to the emotion of the film if not the plot. But it really doesn’t matter because if you are ready to be lead on a journey of love, this is a movie well worth the cost to rent or buy for when you need some genuine romance. It reminded me that minor loves are minor for just this reason. Their moment in our lives can’t compare to major love. Of that, I’ve only experienced it once, and maybe if the title of the movie is true, it won’t ever come again. But I’m not that cynical and I’m also no longer brainwashed enough to believe that an amazing moment between two people constitutes love.

It’s a really valuable lesson for me. Once by John Carney was a beautiful reminder of all that I have learned about love thus far with music I, dare I say it?, loved. That is pretty freaking awesome.

I wonder, Chuck, did you ever figure out what Once means to you? That’s not a challenge to write about it, I’m just curious if anything helped you close the loop to your thoughts since you posted about it.