Peruvian music promo veteran Ricardo de Montreuil brings a very hip feel to this taut and stylish road movie, his follow up to the well-received La Mujer de Mi Hermano (My Brother’s Wife, the most widely-released Latin American film in US history), a sort of melancholic reimagining of Alfonso Cuarón’s international breakout hit, Y Tu Mamá También.

Whilst 21 year old Santiago (Santi) is entertaining a lady friend in the toilets of a night club, his semi-estranged, ex-rock star father commits suicide by jumping off a Lima bridge. Wracked by the guilt that had he answered the phone he might have been able to save his father, deserted by his girlfriend who has tired of his moroseness, and sacked from his job as a waiter, Santi decides to leave the wintry Lima and head to Máncora, a seaside resort in the north of Peru, to sort things out in his head. The day he is due to leave, his stepsister Ximena appears on the scene, having returned from New York to comfort him, and she’s brought her new husband, the impulsive Iñigo. The three set off together, an unlikely, uneasy alliance...

It’s not giving much away that at some point Santi and Ximena are going to have to confront the obvious unresolved attraction they have for each other; it’s only really a matter of when rather than if, and it’s not as though Iñigo hasn’t noticed. Unbridalled hedonism, illicit sex and mind-altering drugs have their place, but as redemptive aids they’re non-starters, and as Santi discovers, the demons are still there in the morning.

We’ve seen many cinematic love triangles, but this one is handled with an abundance of cinematic verve and flair. The undeniably appealing cast all give a good account of themselves, and with its fluent visual style, pulsating soundtrack and frequent sex set against the stunning visual backdrop of Peru’s northern coast, there’s always plenty to be looking at.