LA without a Map

Based on Richard Rayner's autobiographical cult novel Los Angeles without a Map, Mika Kaurismäki's film is a sharp comedy stab at Los Angeles, in which David Tennant plays the Englishman abroad with much more subtlety than Daniel Day-Lewis mustered in the similarly themed Stars and Bars. Tennant stars as Richard, a Bradford undertaker who leaves his rain-swept, gloomy existence to track down beautiful American Barbara (Vinessa Shaw) to sunny Hollywood after spotting her in his local graveyard. Of course, everything which can go wrong once he gets there invariably does, but it's fun, unpredictable stuff, peppered with some fantastic supporting turns from Julie Delpy, Vincent Gallo and, playing himself in a deliciously tongue-in-cheek manner, Johnny Depp. Watch out for Margi Clarke and Amanda Plummer in cameo roles.