Dear Wendy

When a drama opens with an ironic voiceover directed at someone called Wendy, you would expect it to concentrate on a turbulent love affair between a man and a woman.

Yet this film certainly isn't your conventional romance story. Written by Dogville's Lars Von Trier and brilliantly acted by Billy Elliott's Jamie Bell, Dear Wendy is a thoughtprovoking piece about a young guy who falls in love with his gun.

Dick (Bell) is a loner living in a poor American mining town with no real purpose in life, until one day he happens upon a revolver.

Despite being a pacifist, Dick is strangely drawn to the weapon and christens it Wendy. Wendy's existence is kept secret until Dick's shy co-worker Stevie (Webber) reveals he also holds a strong emotional attachment to a gun, ominously named Bad Steel.

Together, Dick and Stevie convince the town's other young outcasts to join a secret gun club called The Dandies, which is based on the principle they never draw their guns.

Yet it's not long before things go wrong. Rather than being a scathing attack on American gun culture, Dear Wendy shows how frustration at small-town existence can cause people to turn to escapism.

Director Vinterberg's documentary-style authenticity carefully balances The Dandies' escapist fantasies with chilling realism enhancing the film's impartial take on guns.

The cast put in flawless performances and the soundtrack adds to the bitter-sweet experience, with the Sixties cult band The Zombies playing throughout.