Allan (Jannik Lorenzen), an 11-year-old living in rural Denmark in the 1970s, is desperate to help his father, Henry (Jesper Asholt), a milkman who suffers from bouts of suicidal depression and hysteria. Things get worse when a rival family starts stealing Henry’s customers.

Propelled by the everyday rituals of a Jutland family in the 1970s, this debut feature from Peter Schønau Fog is graced with a refreshingly unsentimental subjectivity. Hopscotching between genres—from tragedy to black comedy—The Art of Crying leavens its inherent darkness with wit and compassion.