This watchable but oblique drama owes a debt to Belgian director Chantal Akerman’s provocative monotony as it tracks its two young protagonists’ daily rituals

Chantal Akerman’s 1975 feature Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles is the ultimate arthouse exercise in provocative monotony, and was anointed by the 2022 Sight and Sound critics’ poll as the best film of all time. Now it’s hard not to see its influence everywhere, especially in films with a distinctly feminist, queer or queer-adjacent vibe, such as this one from Austrian directors Milena Czernovsky and Lilith Kraxner. Although it doesn’t conclude with any extreme Akermanian violence, Bluish closely observes the rituals of daily life for its two twentysomething protagonists, favouring long takes and deep-breath editing rhythms to explore the quotidian.

Although we never learn the pronouns Errol (Leonie Bramberger) prefers, their name suggests a non-binary disposition and when it comes to romance they seem to mostly prefer other Afab (“assigned female at birth”) people, like a cute young thing seemingly met through a dating app.