San Sebastián-born filmmaker Koldo Almandoz has, until now, been known for films such as Ghost Ship and The Deer as well as the excellent series Mouths of Sky, all of which were dramas, so it might come as a surprise that he has edged into comedy with his new feature, The Last Goodbye, unveiled as one of the Special Screenings at the 74th San Sebastián International Film Festival.

But this is no conventional comedy. Its humour isn’t angling for belly laughs, nor are its gags howl-inducing: it’s understated, gentle, slow-cooked and brushed in with light strokes. To coax a smile from the audience, he leans on the skills of his lead actor, Iñigo Azpitarte (Giant, Undercover), who plays Tomás, a regular, pathetic man - not a heart-throb, but one of us. The sort of guy you might bump into at the neighbourhood hardware shop or the local churro stand.

He plays the owner of a secular funeral service, a divorced father eager to prove to his daughter that he’s a competent parent, who falls for his intern, a trainee 25 years his junior (played by Izaro Nieto), while a retired boxer he owes money to (Josean Bengoetxea) gives chase with his two burly henchmen…

Using these ingredients, Almandoz has fashioned what he himself describes as a modern-day fable, a portrait of an ordinary, somewhat ridiculous man engulfed by constant personal and professional crises, who gets himself into more trouble than is advisable and will have to survive in a grey, unfriendly and decidedly unglamorous world. All of this stirs an empathy in us that at times verges on affection: therein lies one of the film's strengths. It also boasts moments of inventive mise-en-scène, such as when a car chase plays out in the background while the anti-hero crosses the screen in the foreground, or the opening sequence set amid a field of wind turbines.

In terms of tone, it is akin to classic Italian comedy, Billy Wilder’s The Apartment and the Nordic cinema of Aki Kaurismäki. The movie is shot through with an existential melancholy that sets it apart from most commercially released titles in this genre. That’s where its originality and boldness lie, but also its biggest gamble, as it likely won’t appeal to those looking for epic storytelling, spectacle and big laughs.

Instead, with irony and a classical sense of mise-en-scène (with particular attention paid to smooth, harmonious framing), the film touches on ostensibly serious subjects - such as shattered dreams, guilt-ridden fatherhood and generational divides - through a character that is more walking disaster than hero. What’s more, he works in the funeral trade, a setting - as series like Six Feet Under have shown - where sadness goes hand in hand with affection and with classy humour, to boot.

The Last Goodbye is a production by Spanish companies Garabi Films and Txintxua Films.