Patterns Trilogy

Canadian short filmmaker Travis has been pushing his hyperstylised, experimental kitsch-with-soul for a few years now, from the harrowing parental paranoia of 'Why the Anderson Children Didn't Come to Dinner' (2003) to his latest, the black-as-pitch pre-teen suicide comedy 'The Saddest Boy in the World' (2006). In between, the 'Patterns' films chart the dreamlike non-romance of neighbours Pauline and Michael, as they fall in and out of love, stalk, pester, sing and fantasise about murdering one another.

Travis creates a hermetic, entracing world poised somewhere between Norman Rockwell and Wes Anderson, a place of high-stem lamps and crinoline, bitten lips and incongruous dialogue. His films occasionally overdo the icy avant-garde chic, but there's still an enormous amount to enjoy here.