Spiderman: big. Once: small.

Now that we've put this new movie, which opens tomorrow in New York, in context, let's go over a few other key points. It was written and directed by John Carney, who has directed videos for The Frames, a band in which he also performed.

It's a musical. But not like Legally Blonde is a musical -- it's got a terrific soundtrack of contemporary tunes, performed by the star of the film, Glen Hansard (also of The Frames). It's set in Ireland, and it's a love story.

This is the kind of movie that would have had "slipped through the cracks" written all over it except for a little serendipity -- someone from Sundance saw the movie at an Irish film festival and snagged it for inclusion at Sundance -- where the small, Irish, contemporary musical love story won the Audience Award. And that is big.