The fiction debut from Irish critic and documentarian Mark Cousins is, like all his best work, an essay film. Low-key and inward-looking, it is shot by frequent Wong Kar-Wai collaborator Christopher Doyle and follows Alva (Neneh Cherry) as she strolls around the concrete city of Stockholm. Alva’s inner monologue is vocalised by way of a dream-like voiceover in English and Swedish and, later in the film, by song and on-screen text. Cherry’s sultry, resonant voice helps along the otherwise wafty narration, which skirts themes of personal trauma before opening out to broader reflections on both the city and the soul.
