Thirty-something Derek, an introverted bachelor, lives at home with his parents. Holding down a string of odd jobs by day, he trawls the city by night, an awkward Romeo looking for love—to no avail. He also spends long hours on his pet project, an absurd animated film. However, his carefully measured existence is abruptly shaken up when he manages to seduce Nicole. Ill at ease in most social situations, Derek is the ultimate outsider, so much in his own mind that the day-to-day world seems like an alien planet. With him, the most banal of conversations and conventions go sideways, creating a disconnect that’s often comical, occasionally cringe-inducing and invariably unsettling. This first feature from Canadian filmmaker Kazik Radwanski takes on polite society with an off-kilter character whose forthrightness cuts like a knife. Talented newcomer Derek Bogart plays the lead, his face a subtle canvas of doubt and anxiety, his isolation strangely embodied in the nasty scar between his eyes. Radwanski relentlessly films his antihero from an uncomfortably close range, turning his face into the perfect mirror of contemporary solitude. Tautly staged, Tower makes for intense viewing.