P Tinto's Miracle

To call this film off-beat would be the understatement of the year. P Tinto and his beloved blind wife Olivia have yearned to bring up a family since being young children.

Their absolute ignorance regarding the act of procreation poses a slight problem, which they cannot solve by their prayers to St Nicholas. However, as middle-age sets in, they joyously adopt two time-travelling aliens, before the arrival of a 25-stone escapee from a mental asylum is heralded as the long-awaited "son".

Javier Fesser co-wrote and directed the film, and has delivered something downright strange. P Tinto is a hotchpotch of 50's B-movie horror, with bald, squeaky-voiced aliens, random musical interludes, visits from NASA, UFO-combating handymen, high kitsch and complete stupidity. Though it sparkles with sporadic brilliance, it is usually alarmingly different and probably the least profound film you are likely to encounter.

The nearest point of reference to this is the work of Jeunet and Caro, yet there is not the stylistic or comic brilliance which the Gallic duo had in spades. Should Fesser's surreal vision become more honed, he might prove to be a great filmmaker.