The late 60s / early 70s, an era of earnest attitudes and daft clothes, is proving as good a setting as any for tales of growing up. Cameron Crowe visited his own past in "Almost Famous" via a young rock journalist who became worldly-wise on the road; now Adam Brooks has delivered a story about Phoebe (Jordana Brewster), a young San Francisco girl who still locked into memories of her hippie sister Faith (Cameron Diaz) who, trying to prove herself as a party and political animal in 60s Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin, committed suicide in Portugal. As Faith feels compelled to effect social change (she even bombs a building on behalf of the Red Army), "Invisible Circus" reveals itself as a film about self-delusion as it is experienced by both Faith (who leaps from one hippie prank to the next) and Phoebe (who has idolised Faith to the point of absurdity). The film is also about shattered families and the search for meaning.

It is also a credible portrait of an era, and draws in its tensions and conflicts with quite some power, filtering them through the conflicted personality of Faith (Cameron Diaz excels at being alternately introspective and flaky) and the more steady behaviour of Wolf, Faith's boyfriend (Christopher Eccleston's typically intense stare captures his anxiety about the times). Jordana Brewster makes Phoebe's journey from girlishness to insight with a strong mix of pleading, insecurity, and tears, and only when she decides to follow her sister's footsteps across Europe (allowing the film to turn into a mystery-thriller) does the film become an episodic plod.

Visit the official"Invisible Circus" website.