Francis (the suitably cherubic Fudalej) becomes engaged in a polite battle of wits with the aged art dealer Benedict (Pszoniak) when the old man claims he cannot return the painting he stole from Francis’ church.

The precocious young boy also graciously deflects unwanted attention from the investigating detective (Zamachowski), claiming jail time won’t do Benedict any good.

But, Mucha and writer Piesiewicz spread their net of salvation wider than the lonely art lover, capturing Francis’ father (Zapasiewicz) and imprisoned brother (Artman), both of whom never recovered from the death of Francis’ mother.

Sensitive drama is mixed well with dark comedy (Francis’ mother’s death is a laugh-out-loud shock) and thriller conventions (the detonation of Francis’ car as a warning), making Mucha a filmmaker with a career of surprising movies ahead of him.

Visual funnies and understated religious symbolism (the young sleuth’s sky-diving makes him literally angelic) put this in the same tragi-comic mould as Piesiewicz’s more famous filmmaking partner, Krzysztof Kieslowski.

Mucha is not yet a Kieslowski (Hope’s multiple endings are watch-tappingly protracted) but on this evidence he’ll be picking up major awards in the not-too-distant future.

Rob Daniel