Ultranova DVD   Drakes Avenue Pictures

The spirits of Aki Kaurismaki, Jim Jarmusch and Mike Leigh move through this delightful debut from Belgian landscape painter/filmmaker Bouli Lanners in which an assortment of losers and loners look for connections in the colourless, flat Liege hinterland. though loosely-constructed, Ultanova's ostensible focal point is Dimitri (Vincent Lecuyer), a starter-home salesman who becomes the object of fascination for two local girls Cathy (Helene de Reymaeker) and Jeanne (Marie du Bled,) who are prone to flights of fantasy. Meanwhile, Dimitri's work colleagues, led by the painfully uptight Verbrugghe (Vincent Belorgey), are going through their own personal crises. Although unassuming and modest, Lanners' film is only deceptively simple; it gathers great strength from its immaculate compositional sense, detailed characters and an offbeat sensibility that never feels overly calculated.treading a deft balance between mirt and melancholia - perfectly augmented by Jarby McCoy's atmospheric score - Ultranov is one of year's wittiest and most surprising discoveries.