Up shit creek with a paddle.

Man, Netflix are on one hell of a roll with low-key, intimate, indie-tinged movies and they don’t get any more intimate and low-key than Paddleton.

An unlikely friendship between two misfit neighbours - played by Ray Romano and Mark Duplass - is thrown into a spin when one is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Facing imminent mortality, the two put down the rackets of their made up game ‘Paddleton’ for a road trip filled with awkwardness, humour and subtle poignancy.

It’s a simple, not entirely original, premise but an affecting one nonetheless. Supported by two moving performances from Romano and Duplass, Paddleton is a triumph of understated storytelling, focusing as it does on the small, seemingly insignificant, moments in life and friendship that we often overlook until it’s too late.

There are no huge emotional moments, just fragments of humour and poignancy along the way. Paddleton isn’t a film of big gestures and it’s all the better for it - even as it gets heavier and darker the further down the road we get.

Death looms large over everything but it’s depiction and influence over both Michael and Andy feels absolutely authentic. Whether it’s old martial arts movies or made up ball games, in the face of tragedy we tend to focus on those weird little things and that’s how thing play out here.

Paddleton’s emotions are definitely a slow burn, making its final moments all the more heartbreaking as the tragic reality of the pair’s situation comes into stark focus. Paddleton never makes it a mission to dive deep into its central euthanasia issue but then it really doesn’t have to. This is a small, deeply personal slice of life and death, and never pretends to be anything more than that.

Focused yet meandering, Paddleton is an triumph of low-key story telling. Riding high on two wonderful, touching performances, this is a film about the little moments in life and friendship that make us who we are, even in the looming face of tragedy. While the road is certainly meandering, Paddleton’s destination is hard-hitting, heart-breaking, and brilliantly affecting.

Paddleton is available to stream on Netflix now