Finisterrae

So, you want to make a film. You have a handful of people, some sheets, a horse, a wind-sock and a wheelchair. If you're lucky, you'll manage to come up with something like Finisterrae.

The heroes of Finisterrae are ghosts. We can tell that because they're wearing sheets with neatly cut-out eye holes. They're fed up with being ghosts and want to be alive again, so they undertake a journey to the end of the world, where they hope to find a magical door. This journey mostly involves them tramping across fields and through woodland in long, slow takes. Everything is damp or snowy. Sometimes animals (credited for a change) step forward to offer their perspectives. On one occasion the 'lead ghost' watches a video through a hole in a tree. The world it presents - ostensibly one with which we are more familiar - seems very strange indeed.

With absolutely stunning cinematography and subtly effective performances, Finisterrae is more moving than you might expect. It humorously deconstructs its own surrealist codes and yet achieves a kind of poetry that does, ultimately, encourage the contemplation of bigger things. One may begin feeling frustrated by the pacing and the apparent pointlessness of it all (though that may be the point), but if unguarded one may find oneself rooting for one ghost over the other surprisingly quickly. Blank as they are, their posture and small gestures invite us to project our concerns onto them, and some scenes have considerable poignancy.

Finisterrae will definitely not be to everyone's tastes but if you're looking for something a little different then it's well worth a try.