MADE for a mere $218 on iMovie software, Jonathan Caouette's debut is one of the most compelling and difficult features of recent times.

Caouette has been recording his life on film and videotape since he was 11 years old, in the mid-80s.

By using these clips, as well as recent film, answer-phone messages, experimental short films, video diaries and snippets of pop culture, he traces his story as a feverish dream.

It's never easy to see the deep inner workings of very close, intimate family relationships exposed so brutally.

It's even more difficult not to judge the people concerned especially when watching the film is such an uncomfortable, even voyeuristic, experience.