FILM OF THE WEEK

Captain Fantastic (Cert 15, 118 mins, Entertainment One, Drama/Comedy/Romance, available now on Amazon Video/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, available from January 23 on DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99)

Starring: Viggo Mortensen, George MacKay, Samantha Isler, Annalise Basso, Nicholas Hamilton, Shree Crooks, Charlie Shotwell, Frank Langella, Trin Miller.

Ben Cash (Viggo Mortensen) and his wife Leslie (Trin Miller) raise their six-strong brood in relative isolation so their children won't be tainted by capitalism or organised religion. The youngsters - Bodevan (George MacKay), Kielyr (Samantha Isler), Vespyr (Annalise Basso), Rellian (Nicholas Hamilton), Zaja (Shree Crooks) and Nai (Charlie Shotwell) - learn to live off the land and fire their imaginations by reading classics like The Brothers Karamazov. Alas, Leslie has bipolar disorder and eventually takes her own life while undergoing hospital treatment. Ben wants to take the children to the funeral, but Leslie's father Jack (Frank Langella) forbids him from attending. ''Grandpa can't oppress us,'' argues Zaja and the family boards their ramshackle bus and heads to New Mexico to give Leslie the Buddhist cremation she requested in her will. Captain Fantastic is a heartfelt and bittersweet meditation on the perils of modern parenting, which lives up the superlative of its title. Mortensen's magnificent portrayal of a patriarch, who worries he might be ruining his children's lives, is matched by mesmerising performances from young co-stars, including London-born MacKay. They gel magnificently on screen and relish snappy dialogue that sensitively addresses the fresh wounds of an unconventional family wrestling with that most universal of feelings: loss. Writer-director Matt Ross's script compels us to care deeply about the wounded characters as they search for peace and unity in a world of bitter conflict. The tussle between idealism and sobering reality provides the film with its narrative thrust and tearful outpourings of raw emotion.

Rating: ****