In spite of a glittering shorts career thus far, it's taken David Mackenzie some time to get a debut feature out on the big screen. He's sure to be judged less by this Dogmaesque piece than forthcoming adaptation of Alexander Troichi's Young Adam starring Ewan McGregor and Tilda Swinton, but it shows why he is a talent to be reckoned with.

Charlie (Alistair Mackenzie of Monarch of the Glen and brother of the director), smouldering with quiet anger, is driving north to Skye. His wife has moved in with her popstar lover and Charlie plans on burning down their house.

Stopping at a motorway service station, a foreign nutter called Vicente, who is on the run from the mob after sleeping with the wife of a gangster boss, persuades Charlie to give him a ride. Uneasily at first, a friendship develops between the two men.

When, further up the road, their car breaks down on a desolate road in the Scottish Highlands the two take refuge in a retreat for lost souls and the film slides from a road trip drama about two desperate men finding a light in the darkness to something that resembles more Highland gothic mixed with a touch of thriller.

As you've probably guessed, this is not a film that lends itself to pigeon-holing. It can move from weird to conventional, from comic to nasty in a few short breaths. What gives it an edge are the strange characters and interactions between the ensemble cast at the retreat. Mackenzie draws some memorably nuanced performances, in particular from David Hayman as the whisky-imbibing sage who runs the household and Ford Kiernan (of comedy series Chewing the Fat) as the agrophobic.

At times, in its look and feel, the film belies its DV roots and you wonder whether with more time and money the narrative might have congealed into something more clearcut. However, not everybody needs narrative sign-posts writ large, and the haunting atmosphere, elliptical narrative and kooky humour pull you along. Fans will also welcome the poppy soundtrack from Glasgow indie band The Pastels.