Once2007

The party scene in this film, a group of artists, musicians, friends, and lovers sitting around a flat, surrounded by candlelight, wine glasses, ashtrays, beer cans, singing songs to each other for the pleasure of all is a moment that has stuck with me for nearly 20 years. It's the feeling you get when you're young and you're invited to a party, and you only vaguely know people there, and the host welcomes you in, and the room is warm, and the food is hot, and the winter isn't so cold anymore. It's almost a microcosm for the entire film itself, this labor of love among friends that eschews a big stage for the intimacy of close quarters.