Documentarian Marc Isaacs has long been the great independent chronicler of Englishness in all its forms, producing small-scale works that probe at both the heart and the outer limits of this grab-bag of hereditary traits, complexes, idioms, and influences.

This Blessed Plot, about the porous border between the living and the supernatural world in Thaxted, Essex, is no exception. As in The Filmmaker’s House, Isaacs assembled regular people—mostly locals—to play the main parts: an aging football fan grieving his recently deceased wife, a Chinese student filmmaker visiting the town, her church-going landlady, a mysterious “Uncle” who has just got out of jail with only one suit and a shopping bag of miscellaneous possessions. Lori, the Chinese filmmaker, is our guide through this strange world as she—like Isaacs—attempts to find a cinematic form for the baffling and particularly English kitsch seemingly everywhere in front of her lens.

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This Blessed Plot, as sweetly funny as Isaacs’ best films, lovingly sends up the superstitions and petty rivalries of this handful of Thaxted’s inhabitants while also celebrating their peculiarities. A wealth of Anglo-eccentricities are in evidence throughout: a garage overflowing with Arsenal football memorabilia, Morris dancing, greasy breakfasts, half-forgotten Socialist vicars kept alive in the minds of elderly parishioners. The performances Isaacs draws from his troupe are a real highlight, with each word, gesture, and facial tic amplified by the beautiful uncanniness of their acting style.