Parky At the Pictures (12/12/2025)

(Reviews of Silent Sherlock: Three Classic Cases; Baby; Animalia; and Christmas, Again)

SILENT SHERLOCK: THREE CLASSIC CASES.

Christmas has come early for Holmesians, as the BFI has released Silent Sherlock: Three Classic Cases into cinemas to launch the roll out of the 45 shorts and two features that Eille Norwood made for Stoll Pictures in the 1920s. The entire catalogue has been painstakingly restored and this 73-minute package suggests that cinema lovers have a real treat in store, whether the remainder of the series is presented in regular big-screen batches or in a collectible boxed set.

Norwood was 60 when he signed up to play Sherlock Holmes and no one has played the role on film more often, although both Jeremy Brett and Jonny Lee Miller have surpassed his tally on television. Taking visual cues from the Strand magazine illustrations of Sidney Paget, Norwood made such an impression as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's consulting detective that the author enthused, `He has that rare quality, which can only be described as glamour, which compels you to watch an actor eagerly even when he is doing nothing. He has the brooding eye which excites expectation and he has also a quite unrivalled power of disguise.'

James Bragington had been the first British Holmes, in George Pearson's long lost, A Study in Scarlet (1914). But Norwood clearly gave the role some thought, as he revealed in an article for Stoll's Editorial News in May 1921. `My idea of Holmes.' he wrote, `is that he is absolutely quiet. Nothing ruffles him, but he is a man who intuitively seizes on points without revealing that he has done so, and nurses them with complete inaction until the moment when he is called upon to exercise his wonderful detective powers. Then he is like a cat - the person he is after is the only person in all the world, and he is oblivious of everything else till his quarry is run to earth. The last thing in the world that he looks like is a detective. There is nothing of the hawk-eyed sleuth about him. His powers of observation are but the servant of his powers of deduction, which enable him, as it were, to see around corners, and cause him, incidentally, to be constantly amused at the blindness of his faithful Watson, who is never able to understand his methods.'

This is an invaluable insight into Norwood's approach to the role that he defined on screen before Basil Rathbone embarked upon his 14 1940s outings alongside Nigel Bruce's Dr Watson. Noted for his ability to transform himself with make-up, Norwood certainly looks the part and would later sport a dressing-gown gifted to him by Conan Doyle himself. He's backed in this triptych by Hubert Willis, who very much plays a subservient role as the faithful companion who is lost in admiration at his friend's feats of deduction.

Directed by Maurice Elvey, A Scandal in Bohemia (1921) was the seventh in the original series of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Notably making use of contemporary street scenes (which Conan Doyle disliked), the story opens with Holmes and Watson being visited at 221B Baker Street by a mysterious masked man. He reveals himself to be the King of Bohemia (Alfred Drayton) and he asks Holmes to retrieve a photograph taken with the actress, Irene Adair (Joan Beverley), that he fears might jeopardise his forthcoming nuptials if it came to light.

Having intuited that Adair would keep such an item close to hand if she intended to blackmail the king, Holmes visits the theatre to see her in action. He discovers that she is romancing the dashing Godfrey Norton (Miles Mander) and wonders if they are in cahoots. Disguising himself as Adair's leading man, Holmes incapacitates her on the stage and Watson rushes forward to tend to her. But, despite bribing her maid, the pair are unable to procure the picture and even a cunning ruse at her residence fails to bring success. However, a note left by the amused actress reveals that she has destroyed the image because she is about to marry herself and Holmes is left in admiration by the woman who has outsmarted him.

Nicely scored by Joseph Havlat, this meticulously staged, but rather uneventful saga is quickly followed by George W. Ridgewell's The Golden Pince-Nez (1922), which was the penultimate case in the 15-strong series, The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The estimable Neil Brand composed the music for this two-reeler, which takes Holmes and Watson to Yoxley Old Place in Kent after Inspector Hopkins (Teddy Arundell) tells them about the murder of a bed-ridden professor's secretary, who was left clutching a pair of pince-nez spectacles. Having peered through the lenses, Holmes declares that the owner is a woman with a thick nose and puckered forehead, whose eyes are very close together.

The maid doesn't match this description, but Holmes elicits from her that Professor Coram (Cecil Morton York) has been eating more heartily than usual. He also finds footprints on the front lawn and scratch marks on a bureau drawer, and is intrigued by the cigarette ash on the carpet in Coram's bedroom. Having exposed a hiding place behind a bookcase, Holmes learns from the professor's estranged wife, Anna (Norma Whalley), that she had stabbed Willoughby Smith in a panic, while trying to retrieve some documents that would prove the innocence of the nihilist friend who had been betrayed to the police (along with herself) by her husband.

The precision with which Holmes operates is prioritised here, as keen observation and cool logic combine to make sense of the evidence that has baffled Watson and Hopkins. The same tone characterises Ridgewell's The Final Problem (1923), which is the concluding entry in The Last Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Music by Joanna MacGregor adds a touch of sombre suspense, as Holmes is targeted by Professor Moriarty (Percy Standing), who is tired of his schemes being thwarted. He even comes to Baker Street to threaten the sleuth's life and he makes plans to flee to the continent with Watson.

Adopting a disguise that completely fools his partner, Holmes realises that his scheme to have Moriarty arrested with his gang has failed and that his nemesis has followed him across the Channel. Eager to protect Watson, Holmes sends him on a bogus errand and confronts Moriarty on the rocks above the Reichenbach Falls and Watson is forced to conclude that both men have perished after plummeting following a life or death tussle.

This is a curious title to include in the initial selection from the Stoll roster, but it's admirably staged by George Ridgewell, who chose Cheddar Gorge as the stand-in for the Swiss landscape. Challis N. Sanderson nimbly edits Alfred H. Moise's evocative, if resolutely static cinematography, cutting in for regular close-ups of Norwood wrapped in concentration. As in all three stories, Walter W. Murton's sets are also splendid, with the immaculately decorated Baker Street study being widely copied by subsequent productions.

Given that these films were being made at the same time that Impressionism was emerging in France and Expressionism had already taken firm hold in Germany, they cannot be claimed as works of great cinematic art. However, they provide a window into the state of British film in the early 1920s and the nature of public taste. More importantly, by gaining Conan Doyle's approval, these two-reelers helped shape the way in which Sherlock Holmes was presented on screen for the next eight decades. It's only since Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes (2009) put a revisionist spin on the character and paved the way for the likes of the BBC's Sherlock (2010-17), CBS's Elementary (2012-19), and other series that have sought to hook new audiences on the timeless exploits of Holmes and Watson.

BABY.

Not many film-makers start out as casting directors. But Marcelo Caetano fulfilled this role on Kleber Mendonça Filho's Aquarius (2016) and Bacurau (2019) before making his directorial debut with Body Electric (2017). That film's theme of finding a niche in an alternative family recurs in Baby, an assured meld of sensual queer melodrama and grittily compassionate social realism.

Released from the juvenile prison where he had been part of the brass band, 18 year-old Wellington (João Pedro Mariano) returns to São Paulo to discover that his parents have moved and not left a forwarding address. Wearing a red anorak donated by a neighbour, he is menaced by a cop for sleeping on a subway station bench and is relieved to hook up with some of his old friends in the park. They accuse him of killing five people by starting a fire at his old school, but he denies the claims.

Gatecrashing a porn cinema, Wellington gets separated from his pals as they deal drugs and he makes the acquaintance of Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), an escort who suggests that he would be perfect for a visit for a voyeur client. They go for food after Wellington crashes until closing time and Ronaldo inquires about the scars on his torso, as they kiss and cuddle back at his room. At 42 and with a 13 year-old son of his own, he feels protective towards the teenager, but he also recognises that he could be good for business.

Thus, when Wellington gets cross when the voyeur puts his fist in his mouth during their show and he lashes out, Ronaldo urges him to stop being such a baby and accept that there are worse things than a little humiliation with a rich man. Adopting the nickname, `Baby', Wellington learns to box and comes to trust Ronaldo, who works out each day to keep his body trim. He also takes pity on the boy when he falls ill after a session at the sauna and even tracks down his mother's phone number and listens anxiously while they discuss the fact that his cop father despises him.

Ronaldo introduces Wellington to his baby mother, Priscila (Ana Flavia Cavalcanti), who lives with her girlfriend, Jana (Bruna Linzmeyer). They get along famously, although Ronaldo has misgivings when Wellington smokes crack with coke dealer Torres (Luis Bertazzo) and his lover. He warns him that he'll end up toothless and homeless, but Wellington assures him that he's got everyting under control.

However, Wellington is becoming resentful of Ronaldo's insistence that they work all the time and that he keeps his distance from the dangerous Torres. One night, Wellington defies Ronaldo and goes clubbing with his friends. He hooks up with Alexandre (Marcelo Varzea) and brushes Ronaldo aside when he tries to prevent them from leaving together. Seduced by nice clothes and a fancy apartment, Wellington feels sorry for Alexandre, when he says his generation has it easy and doesn't have to go sneaking behind the backs of wives to have casual sex with men. But Alexandre is furious when he learns that Wellington has been in prison and he cancels a birthday trip to Rio and tries to snatch back a new phone on ending their week-long relationship.

Finding Ronaldo with a broken ankle and in debt to Torres over some broken drug vials, Wellington offers to mediate. He celebrates his birthday with Priscila and Jana and plays video games on his phone with Allan (Victor Hugo Martins). As Ronaldo has fallen behind with maintenance payments, Jana suggests he washes hair in her salon.

After Wellington blows out his candles, Ronaldo and Priscila drive him to see his aunt and she breaks the news that he has a baby sister. His cousins texts his mother, who comes to meet him and struggles to hold back the tears. But, while he enjoys being with his family, Wellington knows he belongs with Ronaldo and he returns to the city and agrees to see Torres on his behalf to settle their feud. When he spurns Torres's advances, he gives him a packet of coke and signals for two motorcycle cops to bust him. Wellington is driven to the outskirts and made to kneel in the glow of the headlamps. But he's spared because his father was a cop and he returns, badly shaken, to Priscila's flat, where he refuses to see Ronaldo, as he thinks he betrayed him.

Months pass and Wellington busks on buses with his queer and non-binary friends (Patrick Coelho, Kyra Reis, and Baco Pereira). One day, he spots Ronaldo and they sit together, as the older man explains that he has had surgery on his damaged ankle. He hopes that he hasn't been an entirely negative influence and Wellington hugs him. Both fight tears when he gets off, promising not to be a stranger, and, as the bus pulls away, Ronaldo thinks of the time they danced together on a bridge out of the sheer joy of being together and regrets that he has blown a chance of lasting happiness.

An awful lot happens in a short space of time in this involving, if occasionally convoluted drama, which risks undermining the sense of place so breezily captured by cinematographers Joana Luz and Pedro Sotero and underlined by Bruno Prado and Caê Rolfsen's lively score. The scenes of Wellington on the streets with his pals or helping Ronaldos sell drugs feel more authentic than the cosy get together's at Priscila's place, the interlude with Alexandre, and the telenovela-like family reunion, which is utterly devoid of any insight into Wellington's relationship with his mother. Still, at least we were spared the confrontation with the short-fused homophobic father.

These criticisms may seem harsh, but Caetano has created two compelling characters, who are outstandingly played by João Pedro Mariano and Ricardo Teodoro, and it feels like they have been sold short by the more melodramatic aspects of the scenario after Wellington starts to kick against the unsettling regime of tender protection and calculating exploitation that Ronaldo seeks to impose while he fathoms his emotional attachment to his protégé. Indeed, this is as much a film about the middle-aged man torn between regret and uncertainty, as it is about the rite of passage of a teenager whose personality is frustratingly shrouded by Caetano and co-writer Gabriel Domingues's reluctance to address his prison sentence. But this is also a study of alienation, loneliness, entitlement, danger, corruption, loyalty, and forgiveness in a city where anything and anyone can be bought and sold.

ANIMALIA.

Moroccan film-maker Sofia Alaoui won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and the César for Best Short with her 2020 outing, So What If the Goats Die. She now makes her feature debut with Animalia, which less expands upon the earlier work than offers a fresh perspective on the strange events that start happening after the sky turns green.

Despite coming from a poor Amazigh Berber family, Itto (Oumaïma Barid) has married the wealthy Amine (Mehdi Debhi and endures the disapproval of her mother-in-law, Hajar (Souad Khouyi), in the vast house in the Moroccan desert where consorting with the servants - especially while pregnant - is grounds for a reprimand. Amine's father has just swung a deal to make his son the biggest poultry farmer in the region and everyone heads to Khourigba to celebrate. Itto opts to remain behind and she is busy enjoying herself by sprawling on a huge sofa and scoffing chocolates when a national emergency breaks.

Rain lashes down and military vehicles and helicopters crash past the house, leaving Itto feeling vulnerable and alone. Yet she can find nothing about the crisis on the various television channels. Amine calls to say they are sheltering with a bigwig in the city and promises to send someone to fetch her. But she is afraid because she has no idea what's going on, as the birds and sheep are behaving oddly, as though something was in the air.

Amine arranges for one of their peasant neighbours to drive Itto to Khourigba. But he uses the borrowed vehicle to take his family south and he leaves Itto stranded in Imichil. She takes a hotel room (which she views with a sinking heart - showing how accustomed she has become to living in the lap of luxury), where she is befriended by a lumbering dog. He refuses to budge from her side and accompanies her to the hotel dining-room, where she orders him an omelette. The waiter, Fouad (Fouad Oughaou), recognises her accent and Itto is initially pleased to chat. But she remembers her new status and gives him a piece of her mind for overstepping the mark.

Unable to get a signal, Itto is too restless remain in her room. So, she makes a lead for the dog and they go for a walk. An elderly man approaches her to warn about the threat to the town and the dog bites him. Itto is mortified, but the man reassures her that he is okay and the dog stands firm, as it has assumed the duty to protect her. He even sits in the next chair when she orders food that night, under the watchful gaze of the young men playing cards at other tables. The waiter is careful not to be overly familiar and claims not to know what is going on when Itto asks why there is no phone signal.

Spooked by seeing the dogs lined up outside her window in the night and angry with Amine for not getting in touch, Itto tries to steal Fouad's moto-tricycle. He derides her for speaking Berber when she needs help, but he recognises her fear and agrees to take her to the city. The dog chases after her and leaps up to try to bite a low-flying magpie, which swoops after the vehicle and stays close by until Fouad picks up a seven year-old shepherd boy (Hsain Bellahcen), who seems to have become Itto's new guardian angel.

Spending the night with a shepherd's family, Fouad mocks Itto when he catches her praying (which she has been doing since being left alone). He says her god is money and that he can't believe in a religion that favours the rich over the poor. She accuses him of being bitter and ignorant, but he is not impressed by the airs and graces and they journey on in silence, with Itto perched on hay bags on the trailer. A dense mist descends and they stop. As she rests her head of Fouad's shoulder, Itto seems to leave her body and wanders off alone. A tear drops into a pool of green liquid and bounces up into a vaguely alien shape, amongst many others dotted across the sky. Having hugged a sheep that comes up to her from a flock on the road, Itto finds herself in a room filled with people praying, including Amine, but he doesn't seem to recognise her. As she wakes, she lifts her head off Fouad's shoulder and the shepherd boy sits beside them with a reassuring grin.

Stuck at a roadblock on the edge of the city, Itto asks the shepherd if he saw the same weird images she did. He claims they are inside something they can't understand and she is puzzled by his wisdom. She tells Fouad about cuddling the sheep because it felt like her mother and asks if there is any meaning to what is happening to them. He suggests they have to make their own meaning, but feels glum at being far from home, with no idea what's going to happen next.

With the magpie lurking on a road sign, Amine comes to the roadblock to claim Itto, but Fouad refuses any payment for his trouble, as he watches her disappear towards a big car. She's driven to a large house in a gated enclave, where the TV news mentions something about aliens coming down to Earth. Itto is greeted by Hajar, who urges her (in French) to take a shower. The camera glides over the table groaning with food and Itto watches her fellow diners talking about business as if nothing has changed. Much to her embarrassment, Hajar drops a serving platter and Itto almost feels sorry for her. At bedtime, she tries to discuss what she's seen with Amine, but he just wants to sleep and she chides him for treating her like a child and for being too complacent to see what's going on around him.

Getting up for a midnight snack, Itto consults her phone to learn about extraterrestrials. She is woken next morning by sister-in-law, Noor (Rajaa Essaaidi), telling her to dress in a hijab because they are going to the mosque. She has misgivings and pleads with Amine to turn around. He goes off with the men and Itto is spooked by Hajar suddenly getting an itch behind her ear and then becoming as impassive as Noor. Frightened, Itto rushes into the mosque to find Amine, who has become eerily calm after sobbing during prayers.

As the outraged males push Itto towards the door, she goes into labour and gives birth to a son. Woken by crying, she cradles the infant and wanders into the hospital corridor, where she finds a nurse sobbing because humanity no longer exists. Itto looks into the deserted street and sees nothing but roaming dogs. As the film ends, we see her with her toddler and hear in voiceover as she informs him that people had been fooled into believing in what was unimportant and had been blinded to the evident truths that were right in front of them. She avers that religion had been a curse (because God is `as elusive as a black ant on a black rock on a dark night') and concludes that one needs to know oneself in order to attain happiness.

Boldly seeking to subvert the conventions of the science fiction genre, while also passing cutting comment on Moroccan society, Sofia Alaoui succeeds in carrying the audience along by merely alluding to an impending calamity that separates Itto from her family. However, her decision to obfuscate rather than explain in the final reel will frustrate many, as will the rather superficial nature of the concluding revelations about the interconnectedness of living things. Nevertheless, this is an accomplished debut, with the impressive images going some way towards atoning for the narrative and thematic shortcomings.

Noé Bach's photography is particularly noteworthy, whether it's picking up details within the lavish abode of Itto's in-laws, capturing the intelligence in the eyes of the dog who befriends her in Imichil, conveying the implacable vastness of the Atlas region, or conjuring a sense of wonderment in what might be termed the `stargate' sequence. Alaoui also elicits a fine performance from Oumaïma Barid, as Itto re-connects with her roots while realising how much she has been tainted by wealth and power. Yet, as Amine Bouhafa's string score rumbles ominously, it becomes harder to sustain or justify the determined ambiguity as Alaoui struggles to convey the magnitude of the crisis facing humankind or the impact it has on ordinary people being deprived of information by so-called betters seeking to enjoy their privileges right until the end while insisting, `Everything will be all right.'

CHRISTMAS, AGAIN.

It's not often that a film has to wait 11 years to debut on UK screens. But Charles Poekel's Christmas, Again was released in the United States in 2014 and many of those who see this quirky festive dramedy will wonder quite why it took so long to get here.

For the most part, Noel (Kentucker Audley) works in construction in upstate New York. However, for the last few years, he has come to the city to sell Christmas trees on the night shift at an outdoor stall. The previous year, he had been accompanied by his girlfriend, Marianne. But, as he tells a returning customer and his wife, she's not there this December and he's grateful that they don't pry. While co-workers, Nick (Jason Shelton) and Robin (Oona Roche), doze in the trailer office, Noel fixes the fairy lights around the display and tries to hide the disappointment that his old flame hadn't shown up for auld lang syne.

Smoking while passing the time, Polish migrant, Martin (Andrzej Walczak), asks Noel why he bothered coming back to such a crummy job if he knew that Marianne wasn't going to be there. Having handed over the takings to the boss (Bennett Webster) who can't be bothered getting out of his car, Noel reminds Nick to sweep up the fallen pine needles because people don't like being reminded that trees are dead. Robin calls him out for always criticising her boyfriend, but Noel has his standards.

Showering after a swim at the local pook, he wanders back to the stall in his beanie and red-checked jacket. While grabbing a coffee in a diner off the square, he spots someone rushing along a path and follows to find a young woman who has passed out on a park bench, with one shoe missing and chewing gum in her hair. Hauling her back to the trailer so she can sleep it off, Noel is busy when she wakes the next morning and bolts in embarrassed panic.

With Nick and Robin having moved in with her sister, Noel finds himself manning the post alone. He shivers under a plastic poncho during a nocturnal downpour, as a well-heeled man on a bluetooth set (Craig Butta) keeps asking him to hold up trees so he can photograph them and send the images to his picky wife. Maintaining an air of detached professionalism, Noel keep his cool even when the customer thinks a balsam fir should be as light as balsa wood. The next day, Nick and Robin show up and Noel crashes in the trailer until he is woken by Lydia (Hannah Gross), who still doesn't know how she came to be on the bench. She asks about her wallet, but Noel is curt in his replies, even though he is clearly attracted to yet, but doesn't want to get hurt again.

Having helped a woman who wants a tree like the one the Obamas have, Noel is nettled after getting stick from the boss for sales being down, Skulking in the trailer, Noel is surprised when Lydia shows up again, with a pie to thank him for taking care of her. She tries to get him chatting, but he gives little away, even when she asks about what happens to the unsold trees. He is perpelexed when she asks what he would do if Jesus came and told people to stop buying trees, but she realises she's not making much impression and guesses it's not as much fun selling Christmas trees as she had thought.

Following a conversation with a woman (Dakota O'Hara) about his self-decorated Christmas wreaths - she wants a plain one - Noel prepares a large tree for Derrick (Sam Stillman), who seems to be viewing him with hostility. When he asks Noel to test a pack lights, he spots the pie dish on the table and we realise that he is Lydia's jealous boyfriend. Noel, however, remains oblivious and makes a carelessly casual remark about hooking up with the girl who had baked him the pie. However, the sight of a pregnant woman (Heather Courtney) canoodling with her husband on crutches (Martin Courtney) when he makes a house delivery to their cosy apartment gets to Noel, who thinks that this could have been him with Marianne.

The next night, Noel gets punched in the face and he has no idea who hit him or why. Feeling sorry for himself, he pops a couple of pills from his trippy Advent calendar and dozes off in front of the bar fire in the trailer. He wakes to find his blanket on fire and he looks around in embarrassment, as he drags it outside to stomp out the flames. He empties the rest of the pills into a bag and flushes them after his next swim. Martin comes by with a bottle to reminisce about snow-covered trees in Polish forests, but Noel's spirits are restored when Jane (Andrea Suarez Paz) compliments him on his weaths and asks if he can deliver one and a tree to her place of work the next night.

With a spring in his step, and getting on better with Nick, Noel persuades the boss to give him 15 more trees for Christmas Eve. He's chatty with customers and diligent about keeping the pitch clean, although he's put out when Lydia turns up to demand the pie dish and stalks off without another word. She returns shortly afterwards to ask Noel why she told her boyfriend that they had hooked up. He denies it, but now understands why he got thumped.

As Lydia is tearful, he invites her to join him on a delivery run and she is moved by the warm reception they get from a friendly woman (Evelyn Preuss) and her charmingly chatty children. She even enjoys touring a house party trying to find the man who had ordered a tree. But Lydia is so taken by the way in which Noel is greeted by Jane and the residents at the old people's home where she works that she looks on him fondly as they drive back to the trailer. They pour water on the tea plant that Jane had given them and Lydia dozes off, as they watch it start to bloom.

Nuzzling into him, Lydia kisses Noel, who seems uncertain how to react - after all, she has a pugnaciously jealous boyfriend. Suddenly, the lights go out and, by the time he has poured petrol into the generator, she has gone - leaving him with the last unsold tree. The next morning, Lydia wakes and (with her boyfriend sparko on the sofa) hurries to the pitch to see Noel. But the stall has been taken down and the trailer removed. So, she ruefully scuffs at a small patch of snow in the gutter, as the film ends with time-lapse footage of the tea plant blooming.

There's no point lamenting the fact it's taken so long for Christmas, Again to reach our screens. We should just be thankful it has, as it's a lovely film that captures the conflicting emotions that the festive season conjures in people, whether they are brimful of goodwill or are merely going through the motions. Each character is deftly limned, with the boss perching two pairs of glasses on his nose, as he inspects the day's takings with grasping grinchiness; the homeless Polish man reflecting tipsily on the white Christmases he used to know; the expecting couple exuding affection and anticipation; the women who have differing views on the decoration of wreaths; and the middle-aged couple who smile benevolently, as their four young children bombard Noel with questions, as he fixes their tree into its stand.

This is astute writing and Poekel backs it up by coaxing winningly naturalistic performances out of his ensemble. Obviously, the focus falls on the scruffily melancholic Kentucker Audley, as he grins and bears returning to the place that had been so joyful the year before. He's curtly civil, as he describes the range of trees and offers tips on their maintenance over the holiday. But he cares about what he does, even when he's at his lowest ebb and munching wacky candies. Indeed, his eagerness to stay open later on Christmas Eve to ensure a few more strangers get their trees connects this to such classic yuletide yarns as A Christmas Carol and The Little Match Girl.

Despite rarely straying from the street corner pitch, Sean Price Williams's busy camerawork splendidly conveys the bustle of the environs in conjunction with Udbhav Gupta's inspired sound editing. Trevor Peterson's production design and Robert Greene's editing are also spot on. But special mention should be made of the soundtrack, which is filled with pastiche festive ditties, while also making evocative use of Tchaikovsky's `Berceuse' and `Danse Arab' and the novel sound of Camille Saint-Saëns's `The Swan' being played on a theremin.

Drawing on his own experiences, Charles Poekel was only 27 when he made this feature debut and he's yet to make another. This seems a shame, as he clearly has talent. Perhaps, one day, he will take a break from being interim chair of film at Seattle's Cornish College of the Arts and director of the Bainbridge Island Film Festival and take another tilt at directing. But how do you follow such a sleeper gem?