Once

A musical connection between a Dublin street singer and a Czech refugee leads to bittersweet romance expressed largely through songs that each performs. Real-life singer-songwriters Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are charming in the central roles, and filmmaker John Carney enriches the pathos and spontaneity of it all with a deceptively casual, semi-documentary camera style. As a wistfully arty, tacitly street-smart take on movie musicals, it is consistently engaging, but not often truly impressive. Audiences with allergies to folk rock, anthemic pop, or sentimental cinema vérité might want to proceed with caution.