Leap Year

An award winner at Cannes in 2010, Australian director Michael Rowe's first film is an uncomfortable treatise on sex, grief, fear and death. Set in Mexico City, it centres on young freelance journalist Laura (Mónica del Carmen) who lives alone in her city apartment and seeks solace with a string of one-night-stands. That is until violent, dangerous Arturo (Gustavo Sánchez Parra) comes into her life - and is invited to a fatal tryst. This unflinching look at the personal life of an alienated single woman and apparent fantasist is both harrowing and fascinating, as it delves into areas that even the protagonist isn't aware of, namely the significance and grief surrounding every leap year day. Is this claustrophobic story depressing or riveting? Against women or for their sexual liberation? The film stays neutral on these points, which may not be to everyone's satisfaction.