Thanks, Trev! 

I held this back from yesterday thinking my birthday had affected my judgment. Could a film about young girls at a strange boarding school really be a better feature debut than the mighty Kane? 

Well, waking up this morning to have a look at the dvd interview with Hadzihlilovic, i feel more confident in what i was going to say. Of course Kane is a "greater" film, a virtuoso, innovative display on a very grand subject that announces in its every frame a major new talent. Innocence is greater because of its modesty! Of course there are plenty of modest films- but to quote Churchill, with "plenty to be modest about". This is the work of someone with a clear mastery of cinema (composition, colour, camera movement, lighting, sound, editing, in fact her overall control of mise-en-scene is exceptional etc), but with the maturity not to need to make a brash demonstration. I was delighted she said so herself in interview - "i didn't deliberately set out to create something extremely astonishing"- and that her personality fitted perfectly the image i had of her. She respects her audience, avoids crass manipulation, and has an unusual visual imagination. She has quietly absorbed the influences (Argento, Bresson, Spirit of the Beehive- again i was pleased the names she mentioned were those i'd expected) while making something very personal + intimate, mining psychological depths + effectively capturing a feeling of the childhood we've lost, its natural wonderment, mystery, sensuality, constraints and expectations. 

I guess fans of Borowczyk, the Quay bros, Czech surrealism should be pleased but the film's lack of explicit narrative will not appeal to others. You may find visual reminders of Storaro's work on The Conformist (the train journey), and more obviously of Madchen in Uniform, though that has a strong anti-authoritarian message, while Innocence is more enigmatically troubling. It touches on a range of important psychological + social issues- it's gently challenging-, while offering plenty for the cinephile to enthuse over.