SNIPPET: Just got back this afternoon from seeing a marvelous film out of Ireland that everyone is talking about here in the States. "Are you looking for a little film you can make your own, an enchanting, unpretentious blend of music and romance you can watch forever? If you do, "Once" is about to come into your life and make it whole. The deserving winner of the world cinema dramatic audience award this year at Sundance, this Irish film is low-key in concept - "a simple, classic story of two artists falling in love" says writer-director John CARNEY - and thoroughly winning in execution. Its tone may be sweet and gentle, but it has the grit to resist going exactly where you'd expect it to. And it's the first film in years to mix music and story in a light-on-its-feet way that calls to mind Richard LESTER's much faster-paced Beatles classics. "Once" has a ton of melodic singer-songwriter music from Glen HANSARD, lead singer of the Irish group the Frames, and Marketa IRGLOVA, a young Czech musician he's collaborated with .... Once's" inevitably romantic plot is modern enough to shrewdly avoid ever playing out the way audiences will anticipate. For another, the music is so rich and completely satisfying and the characters so appealing "Once" makes us believe that 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?" Excerpts, review L. A. Times. (My note: Glen HANSARD (born Dublin, Ireland, 21 April,1970) is the vocalist and guitarist for Irish rock group The Frames. HANSARD quit school at age 13 to begin busking on local Dublin streets, which makes his role in this little moving little film so believable.)