Luna

Emotions run high during a weekend gathering by the sea in a typically singular movie from MirrorMask director Dave McKean. Freya (Stephanie Leonidas) and her older artist partner Dean (Michael Maloney) invite his art-school friends Christine (Dervla Kirwan) and Grant (Ben Daniels) to visit their splendid seaside house. However, it soon becomes clear there are deep differences and fissures between the various members of the quartet, complicated by old love affairs, new secrets and the visitors' abiding grief over the death of a newborn child. It might sound like yet another oh-so-British middle-class angst movie, and it is in a way, but what's extraordinary is the way McKean threads fantasy elements in and out of the action. The imagery - tiny origami crabs, Moon people, sinister sprites that steal bread rolls - is utterly bewitching and disturbing. Ultimately, this audacious mix of genres compensates for the conventional drama's shortcomings, and Kirwan is especially good as the broken, clenched Christine.