Beautiful People

Written and directed by a Bosnian, this boisterous black comedy, about the encounters of assorted Londoners with various Bosnian exiles, is quite unlike any other British film. It's a Short Cuts-style jigsaw of interlocking characters, and in the early scenes it's easy to become a little irritated by some of the broad stereotypes and the rather insistent narrative ingenuity. Then, after a paralytically hungover British football hooligan finds himself dropped into wartorn Bosnia on an aid pallet, each narrative strand suddenly takes an exhilarating turn, and the overall absurdity pays dividends. With its echoes of early Forman and Kusturica, this suggests Dizdar is a talent to watch.