Following a suicide attempt, David Miller befriends Jakob Denisovic, an eccentric Russian widower leading a lonely life of pubs and golf in an English seaside village. Jakob reveals the village is being terrorized by a mysterious black beast, and enlists David’s help to confront the beast in its woodland lair. But the beast forces both men to face up to themselves in unexpected ways. ‘The Village in the Morning’ is a dark comedy about having children. Jakob and David are two men haunted by their familial status; David feeling overwhelmed by his young family, Jakob regretful of his childlessness. The film uses the terrifying black beast as a metaphor for the often unspoken anxieties men feel around parenthood. Alternatively it’s just a ghost story.