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A sturdy stomach and lots of patience is required for Jessica Oreck’s unflinching slow-burn documentary about a year in the life of two Lapland reindeer-herders, brothers Aarne and Lasse Aatsinki. Lovers of Rudolph, beware: disembowelment is involved. So is a vérite approach to telling the cowboys’ story, meaning Oreck simply observes without providing context or conducting interviews.

Adjust to its rhythms and there’s a poetry to her portrait of working life in wild landscapes, but only intermittently an engaging or enlightening one: after you’ve seen the 20th shot of men whittling wood, those 12 months start to drag a bit.

Kevin Harley is a freelance journalist with bylines at Total Film, Radio Times, The List, and others, specializing in film and music coverage. He can most commonly be found writing movie reviews and previews at GamesRadar+.