Dust Bunny (Brian Fuller, 2025)⭐⭐⭐⭐

Anyone hoping for a retread or continuation of Hannibal - Brian Fuller's previous collaboration with Mads Mikkelsen - will be disappointed at the dearth of artfully-flayed corpses and Turner Prize-baiting murder scenes, but Dust Bunny does share Fuller's distinctive eye for a captivating image and the subject matter is, on the face if it, quite grim.

Mikkelsen plays an unnamed hitman (referred to as 'Resident 5B'), who shares an apartment building with 10-year-old Aurora (Sophie Sloan). Aurora spots him taking down a 'monster' - in reality, a team of Chinatown assassins in a Dragon costume - and realises he is the ideal hire to take down the monster under her bed, which she is convinced ate her parents.

5B decides that the girl's parents were killed by assassins who were seeking him. His handler (a gleefully amoral Sigourney Weaver) decides that Aurora is a witness who ought to be disposed of and a team of killers (led by an excellent David Dastalmachian)really is after 5B. Meanwhile, something is moving under Aurora's apartment and staying off the floor is a really good idea.

What follows is a bizarre concoction that mixes Luc Besson's Léon, a sinister take on My Neighbour Totoro, the cruelty of Roald Dahl, the woozy camera of Jeunet & Caro's City of Lost Children and the set design of Wes Anderson. Some of the early effects work seems a little rushed or low-budget (there are some CGI scenery elements that feel like they have been chromakeyed in from the 1980s) but once the action in the apartment kicks off, things take a turn for the stylish and the film is visually inventive and constantly surprising.

Mikkelsen and Sloan have an odd chemistry but the film downplays their growing relationship and avoids moments of gushing emotion in favour of subtle glances and inner revelation.

Dust Bunny will not be for everyone but if it connects with you I think it will become a favourite. I loved it.