Sometimes it's the simplest stories brilliantly told that leave the biggest impression.
'An Cailín Ciúin' ('The Quiet Girl') is such a film.
Colm Bairead's debut feature is about a magical summer spent in the company of distant relatives on their farm.
But the Irish language film also packs one hell of an emotional punch.
Set in 1981, Catherine Clinch plays nine year old Cait, a withdrawn kid living in penury in a dysfunctional family home.
Her dad, played by Michael Patric, is a drinker and a gambler and her pregnant mum, played by Kate Nic Chonaonaigh, is just worn out.
Their house is a shambles and the kids are so neglected, they as they sent off to school unkempt.
Before leaving the house, Cait and her sisters scramble around the kitchen for any bread they can pack for lunch.
In school, Cait struggles with reading in Irish as her classmate beside her flies through it.
Sitting alone in class during lunch break, she reaches for a thermos on another kid's desk to drink from its cup, hoping her classmates don't see her, only for two boys to smack into the desk spilling the contents on her.
With another baby on the way, her mum and dad decide to send Cait away for the summer to live in the house of a distant cousin in the Rinn Gaeltacht in Co Waterford.
When her dad's car arrives at Sean and Eibhlín Cinnsealach's farmhouse after a three hour drive, it's a vast improvement.
Carrie Crowley's Eibhlín lavishes all her attention on Cait, while her father disparagingly tells the middle aged couple his daughter will eat them out of house and home.
When Eibhlín fetches rhubarb for him to bring back to the family, Cait's dad doesn't thank her for the gift or for the hospitality.
He stands frozen as some of the sticks fall to the floor, with Andrew Bennett's Sean fetching them for him.
Cait's dad drives away without even taking her case out of the boot.
The first thing Eibhlín does is bathe Cait and then finds clothes for her to wear.
The next morning when she discovers Cait has wet the bed, she doesn't make a fuss - joking instead she shouldn't have given her one of those weeping mattresses.
As the film wears on, we see Cait blossom in the kind, nurturing environment Eibhlín and Sean create, as they buy her clothes, show her round the farm, teach her how to read and let her join them and some friends as they play cards.
Sean, who is at first quiet and distant, also begins to warm to having her around the farm - a moment simply marked by the casual passing of a Kimberley Biscuit.
However it also becomes clear that there is a reason why Sean and Eibhlín are so good to her.
Earlier this year, 'An Cailín Ciúin' caused quite a stir when it beat Kenneth Branagh's 'Belfast,' Benjamin Cleary's AppleTV+ sci-fi pic 'Swan Song,' the comedy 'Deadly Cuts,' Graham Cantwell's coming of age flick 'Who We Love' and Kate Dolan's 'You Are Not My Mother' to Best Picture at the IFTAs.
Not only that but Clinch became the youngest ever IFTA Best Actress winner and Carrie Crowley also won Best Supporting Actress as Bairead's movie won seven awards in total - an unprecedented feat for a film mostly in Irish.
In February at the Berlin Film Festival, it walked away with a Crystal Bear from the Generation KPlus International Jury and came in for special praise from the children's jury.
It has since gone on to break box office records for an Irish language movie in its native land and in the UK.
And it's easy to see why.
'An Cailín Ciúin' is a deeply impressive debut feature - a masterclass in subtle visual storytelling.
Nothing is rushed and yet nothing is dragged out.
Audiences are not led by the nose with explanatory dialogue.
They are left instead to absorb what is going on onscreen and pick up the signals about Cait's life, about Eibhlín and Sean's lives and decipher what is said and unsaid.
Bairead and cinematographer Kate McCullough, another IFTA award winner, understand the rhythm and pace of life in rural Ireland and revel in its lush sights and sounds.
They are aided and abetted by film editor John Murphy who ensures it never loses focus.
McCullough also does a superb job framing images inside and outside the Cinnsealachs' house that linger long after you have seen them.
While it is technically superb, what really sets 'An Cailín Ciúin' apart is its empathy for its three principal characters.
Adapted by Bairead from the short story 'Foster' by Claire Keegan, it is a tribute to kindness and decency.
But it also doesn't soft soap how tough the world can be.
As Cait's summer on the farm comes to a close, it would take the hardest of hearts not to be moved by the film's final sequences.
Irish cinema has finally found a film in the mould of Francois Truffaut's 'The 400 Blows,' Satayajit Ray's 'Pather Panchali' or Ken Loach's 'Kes'.
That's not to overegg Colm's Bairead achievement with his debut feature.
It really is that good.
('An Cailín Ciúin' was released in Irish and UK cinemas on May 12, 2022)
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