The components used to assemble this tenderly eccentric, charming movie are non-sensational although somewhat disparate: a missing son, a mournful father, and the classic word game of anagrams and chance, Scrabble.

And what better person to take on the role of the mournful father than the veteran thespian, the inimitable Bill Nighy.

Nighy, one of Britain's best character actors, stars alongside Sam Riley and Alice Lowe in this stylish and off-beat movie about a tailor searching for a lost son.

Sharp of both dress and vocabulary, Nighy is winningly deadpan as Scrabble-obsessed, fastidious yet world-weary Merseyside tailor Alan, whose eldest son Michael stormed out of the house after a particularly heated round of the popular board game, never to return.

Years later, Alan and his other son Peter continue the search while trying to repair their own strained relationship.

In reality, however, both sons are lost to Alan. One is literally lost, his whereabouts unknown. The other is figuratively lost. Alan and Peter's relationship is fractured and made all the more difficult as Michael's absence continue to haunt them.

There are vignettes where the characters appear as if they replicate Scrabble moves but played on the board of real life; endeavouring to avoid a blank space or undertaking a more favourable move to a double score position.

This is a family that uses words as its shared common purpose: Scrabble is the glue that binds the familial connections. Ironically though, this word-obsessed family who know plenty of words struggle to communicate.

Using Scrabble as the centrepiece of the movie provides the scriptwriter with the opportunity for esoteric etymological amusement and droll comedy. 'Esrom', we learn, is a Danish cheese, and 'Muzjiks' are Russian peasants, which could score you 128. As Alan so pithily puts it: 'All part of the fun is the magic of lovely words.'