Li'l Quinquin

Already being hailed as a French Twin Peaks (understandable, although the overall vibe is more Coen brothers), filmmaker Bruno Dumont's tragicomic mystery is set in a coastal farm village on the French side of the English Channel, where WWII bunkers, tunnels, and even unexploded grenades still litter the beaches. Quinquin (Alaine Delhaye) is an undersized, high-spirited farm boy on the periphery of a bizarre series of connected homicides that eventually lead back to Quinquin's own family. The police captain on the case, Van der Weyden (Bernard Pruvost) is a philosophical, tic-ridden elder (with the apt nickname “the Fog”), whose investigative techniques manifest a befuddled manner reminiscent of Columbo (minus the latter's crime-solving talents). Who is the serial killer? Quinquin's sullen papa? Someone in the community's small Muslim subculture who are specialists in ritual cattle slaughter? The Fog himself? Or Leland Palmer, in cahoots with the Log Lady? The solution is not really the point in this portrait of pastoral weirdness and strange anthropology in an absurd little village that is totally outside the mainstream. Originally aired as a TV miniseries before being released theatrically, this is recommended. (C. Cassady)