The Trespasser

The winner of this year's Sundance Festival is edgy and no easy watch. Throw away your preconceptions. This is Brazil in the raw.

Giba (Alexandre Borges) and Ivan (Marco Ricca) are partners in a building firm. There is a third, but they're sick of him, and so hire a hitman, Anisio (Paulo Miklos), to bump him off before he discovers the dodgy dealings they've been up to.

Things in Sao Paulo are dirty and so is business. Life may be peachy for the rich, but on the other side of the tracks, where Anisio lives, there are no rules, just drugs, drink and extortion. He may have solved Giba and Ivan's little problem, but that is only the beginning of their woes. Not content with staying on the sidelines, he wants a bigger cut of the action and, to make matters worse, has taken a shine to the wildchild daughter of the murdered man.

Miklos is superb in the role of Anisio, striking a balance between menace and swagger, which gives him a comedic air. As the paranoid partners, who find the situation slipping out of their grasp, Borges and Ricca also excel. The contrast between the outlawish, nihilistic world of Anisio and the pristine world of Giba and Ivan is stark and cleverly portrayed, as one of the thrash songs, which accompanies the film, implies: "Welcome To The Nightmare Of Reality".

Aside from Anisio's hints at humour, director Beto Brant's tone is unremittingly bleak. The film has a documentary feel, with handheld cameras used to good effect. A sense of tragedy looms from the outset. It is a shame that he doesn't let in a little more light.