With a script that’s disquietingly permeated with the depersonalising effects of technology-based communication, the moody and immersive Polish teen drama The Word is a darkly compelling neo-noir for our emotionally disconnected times. But thanks to the compassionate and patiently perceptive direction of Anna Kazejak, even this intriguing thematic thread is secondary to the film’s most absorbing function as an empathetic character study that ties these insights on the cold, alienating nature of digital communication to the guarded and anxious perspective of the young Lila. Kazejak’s semi-subjective chronicling of this reticent yet socially abrasive individual’s experiences over a short and nerve-racking period serves as a layered and engrossing encapsulation of a naïve and nervously charged psychology. It’s only when The Word strays from the claustrophobic viewpoint of its lead that it loses dramatic momentum.