We hear a lot of blather about pure cinema: sometimes around this parish. Every now and then somebody suggests a director may have re-invented the medium. Push the idle chatter from your mind. Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy's stunning Ukrainian film really does live up to such vaunting promises. Like the best adventures in formal experiment – think Aleksandr Sokurov's one-shot Russian Ark or Chris Marker's unmoving La Jetée – The Tribe sets itself a challenge and allows the resulting limitations to enhance the creative experience.

Cast largely with non-professional actors, Slaboshpytskiy’s film brings us among the students at a run-down school for the deaf in Ukraine.

This is the old story of the initially nervous inductee who eventually becomes master of a hitherto hostile environment. Sergey (Grigoriy Fesenko) soon discovers that his classmates are running a crime ring that, among other unsavoury activities, involves selling their female classmates’ bodies to lorry drivers. Following a few initiation rites, Sergey finds himself carrying out low-level tasks. His developing relationship with Anna (Yana Novikova) – consummated explicitly in damp, chilly environments – soon triggers conflict with the gang’s leaders.

Here's the thing. Virtually all the dialogue in The Tribe is delivered in Ukrainian sign language. There are no subtitles. There is no voiceover. Slaboshpytskiy is forced to fall back on the techniques of silent cinema and to invent a few innovations of his own as he triumphantly constructs an entirely lucid narrative. The obscured details add to the film's creepy menace and invite repeated viewings.

If the characters were vocalising their thoughts then most analysis would focus on the hugely long shots that weave ingeniously around the often-complex action. Valentyn Vasyanovych’s extraordinary cinematography should not be overlooked: the logistical complications alone would justify a hatful of awards.

The Tribe is a shocking film. At times, the violence is as reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange as it is of any previous high school movie. Grigoriy's story has grim lessons about the way corruption breeds corruption. But the brilliance of the performances, the ingenuity of the staging and originality of the storytelling are exhilarating. We will not see a more impressive film this year. It's simply not possible.