MY DOG KILLER (MÔJ PES KILLER) New Auteurs

In the dreary early hours, as the sun scatters upon the desolate Slovak countryside somewhere near the border, 18-year-old Marek trains his ferocious mutt to attack. Marek’s scrappy, pale frame and hard, deadened eyes betray an impenetrably empty figure, resigned to a life of hardship and neglect. His solace is found with the local skinheads who populate the sparse region. Burdened with the responsibility to save his father’s land, he seeks out the mother who abandoned him years earlier. Their turbulent meeting sparks an ominous chain of events in which bubbling ethnic tensions and inner turmoil will lead to dark consequences. Evocatively employing authentic locations, untrained actors and a sparse narrative bereft of a musical score, director Mira Fornay’s contemplative camerawork and simmering approach captures a vivid sense of place and a stagnant feeling of quiet desperation that comes with no easy answers.