For Ellen review

Paul Dano sports a goatee, black nails and rock-star tattoos as struggling musician Joby fighting for custody of his young daughter.

Yet he’s as much of a screw-up as ever in this glacially paced indie from Treeless Mountain director So Yong Kim, a Sundance special whose muted emotions take a while to access.

Jon Heder’s turn as the small-town brief handling Dano’s divorce adds gentle humour to the slow-burning preamble.

Yet poignancy is reserved for Joby’s eventual meeting with Ellen (Shaylena Mandigo), a liaison so raw and true it points up the ponderous inertia of the rest.