Exeter Extras: Napoleon Dynamite

Preston, Idaho. High-school life is a daily misery for Napoleon Dynamite, gawky white boy with a red afro, thick specs and an ill-advised wardrobe. His family are even weirder than he is - an older brother whose online search for a soulmate yields a girlfriend he doesn't realise is a man, a quad-bike riding llama-keeping grandma, and an unsavoury uncle building a time machine to revisit his high-school football glory days. But Napoleon's not after anyone's pity. He's happy in his own universe, doodling ligers (you'll see), judging cows with the Future Farmers of America, practising his killer dance moves and trying to score with the chicks. When his (only) friend Pedro - another outsider by dint of being the sole Latino in the school - decides to run for class president, it's clear that the pair will need all their special talents to defeat the stuck-up Summer Wheatley. Worryingly, director/co-writer Jared Hess says that all the characters were inspired by people he grew up with in Idaho. Whatever, he and co-writer Jerusha Hess certainly nail the detail in this comic paen to the ubernerd. If you've a taste for the wilfully absurd and prefer a little cruelty with your comedy, this one's for you.

Sandra Hebron, The Times London Film Festival