Bombón el Perro

Set, like Sorin’s earlier ‘Historias Minimas’, against the epic dust plains and wide skies of Patagonia, this offbeat, bittersweet fable follows a weathered, laid-off garage worker as he offsets his fears of redundancy in the husbandry of a potential prize pure-breed dogo argentino, only to be confounded by the hound’s blithe refusal to provide lucrative stud services. The stark grandeur of the landscapes lends a sense of primal, sidelined grace and dignity to Villegas’ smalltime character (who shares a name with the actor playing him, part of the film’s low-key-realist project). Between the hound’s pointed political consciousness and Villegas’ persevering loyalty and abashed charm, the film is a quiet delight.