This isn’t your average love story. It may involve a boy and a girl and a boy falling for a girl but it’s done in a way I’ve never seen before, at least never seen work. Meet Jara. During the week he’s a security guard at a big grocery store, by day he sleeps, takes care of his nephew and listens to heavy metal, during the weekend he’s a bouncer at a night club. He’s a big guy and at first glance, you’d likely turn the other way and run but on closer inspection, we see a kind face and eyes that reveal the soul of a big teddy bear. But what makes Adrián Biniez directorial debut Gigante, a Berlin Prize Winner, special is the way in which the romance evolves.

You see, Jara doesn’t meet a girl, date a girl and then fall in love instead, he spots a young woman who works on the store floor and becomes infatuated to the point where he begins to follow her. At first, you can’t help but chalk up the interest to curiosity but as the film slowly unfolds and Jara’s stalking activities escalate, a bell goes off. Amazingly, due in part to the direction and the performance from Horacio Camandule as Jara, the film never feels creepy and instead, I found myself rooting for Jara to succeed in his quest to finally speak to the girl.

The combination of Miniez’s carefully constructed story which develops Jara as a real person rather than a clichéd romantic hero and Camandule’s quietly captivating performance keep the film light and sweet rather than weighed down by creepy subtext. That’s not to say that it’s all sugar sweetness as some of Jara’s activities cause harm both to himself and others around him but it’s all par for course in his search for love and frankly, it’s difficult to look at Jara and not want to see him succeed in finding love.

Often funny, sometimes sad and all around entertaining, Gigante is a film that defies expectation. With every step forward, Jara takes two back and just when you think he’ll never get the girl, the unexpected happens. A surprisingly sweet story of love unlikely romance this is the best kind of romance.

See VIFF screening schedule for show times.