Krisha

Are we watching the emergence of America's next great filmmaker?

"Krisha" is a stone cold stunner.

From the first scene of "Krisha," writer and director Trey Edward Shults puts us off balance, and for the next 83 minutes keeps us that way, almost daring us to look away.

Fairchild's performance is key to the movie: Krisha is witty and chatty one moment, shut down like a deserted fairground the next. We see dazzling warmth in her eyes but also the terror of total system failure.

Krisha may go on a little longer than you'd want, but then, its title character is the kind of houseguest who stays longer than you'd want her to - so even the postscript confrontations and apologies feel right.

At times you laugh in horror. At other times you shrink from the screen. There are truths here.

It's one of the more challenging -- and perhaps rewarding -- film-going experiences of the year so far.

If this isn't the first work of a major filmmaker I'll eat my review. And I'll film it for you on YouTube.

Among the most engrossing 80-or-so minutes you'll see all year.

Tough to stomach, but incredible talent in front of and behind the camera.

Krisha is a truly unique film, and one that I'll be thinking about for weeks.

The tension is apparent from the off and this tightly wound and intimate drama delivers on both the intensity and complexity of a black sheep returning to the fold.