Search: Starring Javier Camara

The five-minute nature of the loop is perfect for escalating humour.

It's classic film noir; except that, being the work of Pedro Almodóvar, much of it is shot in lurid colour, not all the girls are really girls, and not all the boys are what they claim to be, either.

The sexual and gender politics that course through Almodovar's best work are in evidence here but there's a distinct lack of focus, leaving the film a somewhat forced flight of fancy.

There's a relaxed warmth to the, largely, lowkey events, that encourages us to cosy up to the family.

Unashamedly low budget, it focuses on good acting in claustrophobically tight sets.

The look of the film is unexpected and fascinating.

Gay challenges the usual cliches of disease films.

The film is absorbing rather than depressing, uplifting rather than sad.

It treads a fine line between the serious and the comic.