In my father's den

Herald rating: ****

Sleeping Dogs ignited our film industry: a dark, paranoid tale of one man against the system. It's a perfect arc to this dark, gothic story of small-town New Zealand, a dysfunctional family, a coming-of-age tale, the return home that has been so much a part of our story down the years.

Paul Prior (Matthew MacFadyen) didn't get on with his father, left home at 17 and, in his 30s, is coming home for Dad's funeral. He will arrive late and open old wounds with his brother, Andrew (Colin Moy), and his housebound wife (Miranda Otto). When Paul hangs around for a while, he becomes the object of a schoolgirl crush. This is tangled, too: Celia (Emily Barclay) is 16 and the out-of-wedlock daughter of Paul's first girlfriend (Jodie Rimmer). Their friendship upsets families and the community and it's no surprise when Celia disappears, Paul is the prime suspect.

Brad McGann's first film is absorbing, dark, brooding, angsty, more than occasionally rambling, filled with outstanding performances and rugged landscapes . You simply must see it. End of story.

* DVD, Video rental today