It’s the late ’90s, and teenager Maz has grown up believing that she was partly responsible for her Dad’s death. After having an alien encounter in the woods, she ropes in best friend El to get to the truth of what happened to her Dad, and whether he might even still be alive – on an alien spacecraft.

I really wanted to like this film. The narrative is based around a series of real life events in Wales in the ’80s and ’90s which lead to conspiracy theories about aliens, the MOD covering up the existence of aliens and, probably more likely, activities the MOD carried out which created UFO-like spectacles about which they’ve consistently refused to come clean. The problem is that, while inspired by all this, the film makers never made a decision on exactly what kind of film they wanted to make.

IMDB lists Out There as adventure, comedy, drama, mystery, and Sci-Fi and that almost covers it. It also very much has the vibe of a family film – a father-daughter relationship at its heart, teenagers and pre-teens in the starring roles with the adults either in the dark or chasing to keep up – if only it wasn’t for the strong language and psychoactive substance abuse. The action combines moments of almost slapstick comedy with grief and forays into mental illness. This is against the backdrop of social decline in a Welsh seaside town beyond its heyday.

The film stars some of Wales’s premier acting talent. Aneurin Barnard always tries a little hard, but it’s a joy to see Michael Sheen in anything, no matter how ridiculous the part – this one included – he’s always completely credible. It’s to the film makers’ credit they persuaded him to join the cast, and his name will probably give the film more attention than it actually warrants.

Newcomer Nerys Amber Stocks gives a solid performance as Maz, while co-star Tom Moya as El is a little more mannered but there’s essentially nothing wrong with the cast, or the direction. There’s a rocking singalong late 90s soundtrack, of course making good use of Catatonia’s ‘Mulder and Scully’. It’s the overall concept that’s not been thought through, with complete lack of attention to tone, intended audience, and even genre. This film will land on TV soon enough where there’s some room for more confused narratives, but it’s unlikely to find its place on the big screen. This is a shame for first time writer-director Simon Ryninks but perhaps, like so many before him he was just too close to the material to see it for what it was or, more accurately what it wasn’t.

This film is heartwarming, and certainly a little different to the norm. It’s quintessentially Welsh, but conceptually all over the place.

Screened as part of Edinburgh International Film Festival