An existential horror film heavy on atmosphere and metaphor, January is a monochromic, slow-burn, Bulgarian ghostly drama that has Beckettian overtones. Based on a 1974 play by Yordan Radichkov, documentary maker Audrey Paounov translates the piece into an intriguing cinematic experiment.

Set in a snowbound Bulgarian January, the film has a remote snowy cottage peopled by The Guard – played by Samuel Finz – and an old man, played by Iossif Surchadziev. They have a rakia-drinking crow for company, and the cottage owner, an unseen Petar Motorov, has disappeared into the woods on a sleigh. The Twins (Zaharvy Baharov and Svetoslav Stoyanov) arrive stranded with a beached snowplough and want to use the cottage’s tractor. They are joined by a tattooed Leonid Yovchev as The Priest; all wait for the Godot-like Motorov as events around them become stranger.

The ‘tenetz’ or ghosts of the forest may be abroad, the plough keeps returning with a frozen wolf on it, and matters generally become odder and odder. The film uses this quintet of characters to explore post-communist Bulgaria: nothing truly is explicit throughout, and a heavy atmosphere of menace and dread pervades, helped by an eerie soundtrack.

Although its single-location stage roots are evident, the film version of January is a diverting, strange but intriguing examination of death and political chaos which will reward those patient enough to immerse themselves. Well shot by Vasko Viana, everything from a nutcracker to the static faces of the cast exuding shadowy mystery, this film will not be for everyone, but its haunting, mesmeric tone cannot be denied.

Dir: Audrey Paounov (12, 110 mins)

January is in cinemas and on demand from Fri 27 Jan

words KEIRON SELF