Manneken Pis

With its carefree blend of the off-beam and the everyday, this game Belgian first feature seems to tap the same vein of oddball whimsy mined by Toto the Hero and The Sexual Life of the Belgians. Sweet, bald, shy Harry is a humble dishwasher hiding a dark secret (his family were run over by a train while he was out of their car taking a leak), all of which makes him uncertain in his wooing of a comely Brussels tramdriver, whose elderly confidant pours scorn on the whole proceedings. Unafraid to switch from farce to grim foreboding in an instant, director Van Passel throws in a vibrant colour palette, but doesn't quite have the discipline to achieve the emotional impact intended. Refreshing, though.