Gritty social realism in the vein of the Dardenne brothers—one might even go so far as to mention Italian neorealism—is the mode chosen by writer-director Simão Cayatte to tell the story of Andre (star-in-the-making Rúben Simões), barely a teenager, who scrapes by with his father by digging wells in the dusty and remote Alentejo region of Portugal. One day, after gifting Andre a new tablet, Dad leaves Andre in the hands of social services and disappears. Escaping the authorities, Andre turns to the only neighbour for miles around, Sandra (Joana Santos)—a single mom who has slipped badly in the mothering department—for help. Together, this odd couple will improvise a kind of brother-sister bond as they search for Andre’s father and their own personal redemption… Rarely has a film dealt with the harsh realities of poverty and guilt in quite the same way, while the performances of the two leads absolutely sparkle.