Less is more in this modern classic

A NUN-TO-BE and her long-lost hard-drinking, promiscuous aunt go on a road trip - Hollywood comedy or European arthouse?

Mercifully, it's the latter for Ida, directed and co-written by acclaimed Polish-British filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski (Last Resort, The Woman in the Fifth), and winner of Best Foreign Film for Poland at the Oscars earlier this year.

Shot entirely in bleak-but-beautiful black and white and running for a surprisingly brief 80 minutes instead of an eternity like most arthouse flicks tend to, the film still manages to pack a punch, with the haunting monochromatic cinematography bleeding raw emotions.