The winner of the ensemble award at the South by Southwest film festival and showing here at the International Critics’ Week sidebar, David Robert Mitchell’s “The Myth of the American Sleepover” owes a lot to “Dazed and Confused” and other coming-of-age flicks, but it’s an engaging piece of filmmaking on its own, beautifully shot and acted.

It’s set in a generic Detroit suburb on the last day end evening before the end of summer vacation, but the absence of texting gives it a timeless feel. What recent high school grads and their older siblings have in common is an ennui that’s explored in lightly-plotted tales revolving around four main characters, including a college junior who virtually stalks a pair of incoming freshman twins who are attending an orientation sleepover. Though there are plenty of laughs, Mitchell keeps the audience on its toes as the protagonists veer dangerously close to tragedy during the long night in this haunting picture.