Lake Tahoe (12A)

A gentle, poetic rumination on death and grieving.

On a deserted road in a somnolent Mexican town, a 16-year-old boy (Diego Catano) crashes the family car into a telegraph pole. He goes off in search of help and spare parts – from a weathered mechanic, a single mother and a Kung Fu fanatic – in the course of which we begin to understand the boy's air of reticent agitation. The writer-director, Fernando Eimbcke, uses his camera in the manner of the old silents, and keeps dialogue to a minimum – one of the best performances comes from a boxer dog. Folksy and a bit twee, but its heart is sound.