Although it has superficial similarities with Hitchcock films (it's in black and white; it takes place on a train; it's a murder mystery; there are plenty of red herrings and misleading clues), I loved this moody Polish film because it is visually stunning and refreshingly free of Hollywood clichés. I saw a lot of Expressionist influence in the artfully planned staging and unusual camera angles, both inside the cramped railway corridors and outside the train in various stops along the route. The film is fairly demanding on the viewer: there are a lot of secondary characters with complicated stories of their own, and I found myself repeatedly pausing the DVD to catch details that I had missed. The final scenes were intricately choreographed and highly stylized, reminiscent of black-and-white-era Fellini. Not for everyone, but I found it delightful and plan to watch it again.

Sadly, I can't agree with most people who find this film to be Hitchcockesque in its representation of a thriller.

To say this would be to say that your Jaguar is just like a Mercedes. They might both be fine cars, but they are in no way alike.

The really quite simplistic plot travels at a slow and in many ways, inexplicable pace. There is little tension built up, and, for the most part, little mystery to be found.

However, don't take any of this to be a retrograde description.

The various small character subplots and interactions are wonderful. The whole journey has a quite haunting feel to it, which I find I am at loss to explain, because if I analyse the film, there is no real reason to this feeling. And yet, there it is.

The beautiful and mysterious Lucyna Winnicka is utterly mesmerising.

In so many ways this film shouldn't work with anything like the power it achieves, but somehow it does. If it captures you in the way it has me, then it will stay with you long after the event, from the strange individual passengers right down to the oh so ethereal soundtrack.

I am without explanation, but I truly hope it gives you the feeling of something wonderful it gave me.