An Irish musician gets some cash together and records an album. That’s about it for this delightfully uplifting film that took its director to Sundance and beyond. It did much the same for the lead, an avowed musician whose brief step into acting has left him more of a musician than ever.

The Busker works in his Dad’s vacuum-cleaner repair-shop at the tatty end of Dublin. Whenever he can, which is most of the time, he performs on the streets. By day he plays covers and by night, when the public are more amenable, he plays his own songs. There’s a sense that Once is a vehicle for Hansard to take his spirited Coldplay-meets-Travis music to market. Although the former Frames guitarist might well turn up at any number of summer festivals this year, this small film is much bigger than an extended promotional video.

When The Busker catches the eye of The Girl, a Czech immigrant who lives in a ratty apartment with her mother and young daughter, a spark ignites. She has a broken vacuum cleaner, she plays piano and together they form a loose collective who cut a demo CD. Since The Busker has already announced plans for London, and The Girl has a future in Dublin, we know the course of the film. Yet Carney’s story is not about destination, it’s about journey and a more pleasant one wont be had this side of the Great Ocean Road.

The star-crossed pair explore their dreams and hopes while gently nursing emotional pain. And through song, a simple if unconventional love story develops; beautifully, effortlessly. For a romantic drama without sex or a happy-ever-after ending, Once is all the more surprising. It shows how much bigger life becomes when spirits connect and share. Simple really. And with a rousing score, here is the definitive feel-good film that will have you smiling every time you see a busker. Promise.

// COLIN FRASER