Between

With this smart, stylish and utterly original metaphysical thriller, first-time director David Ocanas delivers a gripping tales of a woman whose labyrinthine search for her sister leads to Tijuana and an elusive quest for truth.

Between quickly spirals into a mind-bending puzzle as Nadine encounters ominous, incongruous occurrences south of the border. She faints and lands in a hotel room once occupied by her missing sister. A visit to a grieving woman turns bizarrely theatrical, as if rehearsed. A flyer slipped under Nadine's door leads to a clock graveyard, where the timepieces all read 5:30. Recurring motifs appear -- a ceiling crack, a city bus, the number 217 -- and time seems to be folding back on itself like a tail-eating snake. Tijuana is like a sultry accomplice, tucking away secrets in her streets and passageways. Unhinged, Nadine drifts into a liminal state between waking and dreaming. A mysterious inner logic propels her forward until the disparate signifiers dotting her bewildering path coalesce into an enthralling climax.

A tightly conceived tour de force in which every detail adds up and language is deftly recruited simultaneously to withhold and disclose information. Between does what the best films of this genre do: it raises potent existential questions about the power of our minds and the nature of love. Marshaling limited resources, the virtuosic Ocanas shows how much can be accomplished with a great idea and an inspired vision.