The Voices is Marjane Satrapi‘s first foray into live action filmmaking after adapting her own graphic novel Persepolis a few years ago. Ryan Reynolds is a naive, innocent and happy man working at a bath-making factory glossed in pink and primary colours, who has a crush on the English girl from accounting, Gemma Arterton. She, however, hasn’t got any interest in Ryan Reynolds, so suspend that disbelief for a second because when she kind-of agrees to go out with him one night, then ditched it for karaoke with Anna Kendrick, things take a turn for the worse. Reynolds’ life is mostly weighed by the opposing forces of his dog Bosco and his cat Mr. Whiskers, both voiced well and differently by Reynolds, who goad him on with his innocent, happy life or try to bring chaos into it with equal measure, resulting in some major shifts in tone throughout from a light, breezy, sweet and charming comedy to a very disturbed and dark thriller. If at first it looks like its doing a Silver Linings Playbook on mental illness, don’t fret because things dip in ways that seem fitting for the struggle, but never damage the entertainment factor of the film, only embrace that and make the audience uncomfortable for feeling entertained, before putting the fun back in again. And then taking it away. And then putting it back, then away. It’s a rollercoaster.

It’s hard to describe The Voices without giving away the masses of pleasures contained with every twist and turn, every change and shift. But to say it’s riveting, gorgeous-looking and full of great performances, especially from Reynolds who is at his Buried-level best in this, would be enough to say go find this film and indulge in every crevice. And then take in the closing credits sequence 5-6 times because it is absolutely inspired. A totally offbeat, off-the-wall, balls-out insane slice of cinema that is both humanising and broadly hilarious, yet stomach-churning at the same time. The Voices is one hell of an experience, one you won’t soon forget but will want to go back to a few times at the least.