The Sundance Film Festival has always had a penchant for showcasing intimate dramas; bittersweet romances and a few peculiar narratives that can lead to quite heated cinematic discussions. But every so often a film bursts through the screen that engages the Park City audiences with nothing but pure joy and exuberance.

Sing Street, written, directed and produced by John Carney (Once, Begin Again), is just that film and this Irish fable, bought by the Weinstein Company for release this Spring, is that rare coming-of-age story that due mainly to its 1980s musical soundtrack, taps into a nostalgic nerve that seemed to thaw out the frozen spectators and bring them to their feet.

We are in Dublin in the mid 1980s when the economics of the time have put a strain on most of the residents. Enter 15 year-old Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) who has been transferred to a rough and tough inner city school and cannot seem to find his footing. But a chance meeting with the mysterious Raphina (Lucy Boynton), a would-be model who hangs out across the street from his school, inspires him to announce that he is forming a band and needs a girl for their video.

Now the quest begins to actually form a band, which entails Conor assembling some schoolmates, many who have no real experience, into a formidable musical group. Luckily his older dropout brother Brendan (Jack Reynor), educates his sibling on the likes of Duran Duran, The Cure and Hall & Oates and sends the new band, Sing Street, into the fray.

John Carney has co-written original tunes that easily evoke the chord changes and tempos of some of the big 1980’s hits that lend a true air of authenticity to the score. But while the music is certainly a door that leads people into the story, it is the characters that keep them there, thanks to excellent performances by Walsh-Peelo and Reynor.

One bit of advice. You might want to listen to a few Berlitz tapes on the Irish language because there are a few characters that talk with such thick accents, you might think you are watching a foreign film. But listen close – the musicality of that tongue is just one more element in the harmony of this film.