When Henry J Heinz invented the baked bean back in 1887, he could never have guessed what first-time Brighton film director Daniel Searle had in mind for his orange staple more than a century later.

Cinema verite’s latest enfant terrible uses beans as the centre of his exploration of the claustrophobia and tedium of long-haul flight with clear nods to Airplane! Airplane II, Flightplan and Non-Stop.

Searle also stars in the film, evoking a young Tilda Swinton while using his rubbery features to convey both the naivety of youth and the gormlessness of decrepit old age. His co-collaborator Mark Dishman squeezes every last drop of humour from a vinegar sachet while dressed in clothes last seen in Boogie Nights.

Star of the show is Jan Rust playing the peanut-popping, frustrated American patriot Hank Magnum, who clearly is worthy of a film all of his own.

All in all this a strange but hilarious film you would not want your children to watch. It is much more than just a child in some beans, it is about the dying of the light, the banality of modern life and the helplessness of parenthood.

In essence the variety of life, all 57 varieties.