Taboo-challenging indie auteur Todd Solondz reopens old wounds with cut-throat precision in this loose sequel to his stinging 1998 black comedy Happiness. Revisiting the principal characters a decade on, but using an entirely new cast, he focuses on the still-dysfunctional Jordan sisters, Joy, Trish and Helen (Shirley Henderson, Allison Janney and Ally Sheedy, respectively), as they try to escape the ghosts of traumatic past relationships and create fulfilling futures. As in the original film, it's paedophilia that hangs heaviest over what's essentially an interlinking series of tart, dialogue-rich vignettes, allowing Trish's precocious 12-year-old son (Dylan Riley Snyder) to steal the emotional thunder from the adults with his poignant struggles to forgive his child-abusing father (Ciarán Hinds). Solondz's twisted playfulness finds grim humour even in these highly uncomfortable scenes, although his obsessive quirkiness precludes naturalism. Ultimately, this determinedly left-field approach keeps his work an acquired taste, despite this being a welcome return to form after the persistently unpalatable Palindromes.

Friends, family, and lovers struggle to find love, forgiveness, and meaning in an almost war-torn world riddled with comedy and pathos.