Happy New Year, Grandma!

This humorous Basque melodrama clumsily attempts to reconcile two genres: the smart, sprightly comedy of family manners and the broad, Hitchcockian thriller. The former element works fine, as Miren (Nagore Aranburu) and Kintxo (Joxean Bengoetxea, familiar from the wonderful 2009 film ‘Ander’) gradually realise that their dotty old family matriarch (Montserrat Carulla) may not be as toothless and dependant as she seems. But as the plot gathers pace and the twists pile up, director Telmo Esnal struggles to keep his characters convincing: Miren, in particular, shifts from maternal to murderous in a heartbeat. Still, there’s plenty to enjoy, not least an unexpectedly bleak, pointedly political finale.