Border

Director Ali Abassi's 2016 debut feature Shelley and its demonic-progeny story was firmly in Rosemary's Baby territory. However, it's hard to pigeonhole his second film, even if it is based on a short story by the author of Let the Right One In. A weird romantic thriller, with the emphasis on weird, it stars Eva Melander as Tina, a brutish-looking Swedish customs officer who can literally sniff out contraband as well as a person's guilt on arrival at her port. But when she pulls aside eerily similar-looking Vore (Eero Milonoff) during a routine check, something primal surfaces and a strange attraction develops between the misfit pair. To reveal more would be to spoil this unusual but compelling curio, which takes dark and daring left-field turns along the way, some of which will have you scraping your jaw from the floor. It's no surprise the picture copped an Oscar nomination for the make-up, as it not only creates a unique look but also allows Melander and Milonoff to deliver convincingly nuanced performances. Meanwhile, Nadim Carlsen's cinematography beautifully captures the sensual world where their relationship blossoms and blooms.