A family saga in the form of a poetic documentary essay, this debut feature by Portuguese writer-director Catarina Vasconcelos is an inventive, boldly imagistic piece that marks its creator as an original, deeply thoughtful talent.

The tone of Vasconcelos’s economical but potent style of low-key cinematic magic might best be summed up by a shot that follows the slow development of a Polaroid photo, or by another moment, more spectacular but just as simple: a time-lapse sequence of blossoming flowers.