Lots of kids would like to believe they can communicate with animals, forming a special bond that only they understand. But for the adorable little girl at the heart of director Iván Fund’s The Message (El mensaje), talking to dogs, cats, turtles, horses and all types of fauna is a moneymaking vocation, and one she exercises with plenty of tender loving care.

This minimalist oddity of a road movie follows Anika (Anika Bootz) and her caretakers, Myriam (Mara Bestelli) and Roger (Marcelo Subiotto), as they tour the Argentine countryside selling the girl’s services in “natural telepathy.” Claiming she can commune with the souls of pets, Anika relates animal “messages” — either directly or through voice mails — to owners wishing to know what Rex or Fluffy or Biscuit are actually thinking. In return, the girl and her guardians live a freewheeling #vanlife, wandering the land like an old circus troupe...