THE MUGGER (EL ASALTANTE) International Feature Competition

He’s a mugger in a three-piece suit; the kind of thief who’d fit in quite nicely in a French New Wave piano bar circa 1957.

Ramos oozes avuncular charm as he pulls his gun and asks for the cash in the school safe, but his eyes betray his weariness and the grey in his hair betrays his age. He can still make a break for the door, disappear into a taxicab and slip into a fresh change of clothes with ease, but an encounter with a waitress and a cup of hot coffee shifts his equilibrium.

The subtlety and range of Arturo Goetz’s performance is matched by the careful rendering of the soundscape, and the deft pacing of the frenzied sight and sound of Ramos’s shoes scraping the pavement as he breaks into a run.