Rarely has the eccentric seemed so everyday or the desolate felt so welcoming as in this remarkable tale of social deprivation and juvenile innocence. Basking in its widescreen lyricism, the story - about a small-town black boy who refuses to allow the fragility of his skull to interfere with his superheroic ambitions - unfolds at its own gentle pace. This allows debutant director David Gordon Green to concentrate on the performances of his non-professional cast, who deliver their part-improvised lines with a delightfully unforced sense of poetry. Eschewing politics in favour of an extraordinary dream-like style, this takes the rite-of-passage picture to a whole new level.

During an innocent game in an abandoned amusement park, a member of the group dies. Narrated by one of the children, the film follows the kids as they struggle to balance their own ambitions and relationships against a tragic lie.