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FAR NORTH:Directed by Asif Kapadia. Starring Michelle Yeoh, Michelle Krusiec, Sean Bean, Per Egil Aske, Jan Olav Dahl, Espen Prestbakmo 15A cert, limited release, 89 min ****

FOLLOWING THE disappointment of his dire 2007 horror film The Return, Asif Kapadia, one of England's more interesting young directors, returns to the epic folk cinema that characterised his superb debut, The Warrior. Set among the vast landscapes of northern Scandinavia, Far North takes a tale by Sara Maitland, a distinguished British feminist, and turns it into something that is simultaneously magnificent and preposterous. Even if you don't care for this singular drama, you cannot deny that it grabs the attention.