Haunting Portraits: Intimacy and Identity in Alena Lodkina's Petrol

Set in contemporary inner-city Melbourne and playing out somewhere between reality and the world of imagination and dreams, Alena Lodkina's enigmatic sophomore feature dwells on the effects of interpersonal connections on self-perception. Infused by magic and replete with ghostly sounds and images, the film wears its surrealist influences on its sleeve, writes Danica van de Velde.