Blonds have more guns

This week's Latin American offering is a Brazilian thriller about a lacklustre, inoffensive young man who, by dyeing his hair blond, is transformed into a cold-blooded killer. As McGuffins go, this is one of the strangest and most enticing.

Maiquel (Murilo Benicio) arrives at a neighbourhood bar accompanied by the beautiful Cledir (Claudia Abreu), the hairdresser responsible for freshly peroxiding his locks after he lost a bet.

After the new "do" is insulted by the local thug Suel (Wagner Moura), Maiquel buys a rifle and shoots him dead in the street. Expecting the full wrath of the law to fall upon him, and troubled by his own conscience, Maiquel is astonished to discover that his actions have made him a local hero - even the police congratulate him on getting rid of a criminal scumbag.

Before long he is warding off the attentions of girls - including Suel's 15-year-old ward Erica (Natalia Lage), who moves in with him - and is being employed by his dentist (also a local crime boss), Dr Carvalho (Jorge Doria), to perform similar tasks of urban "cleansing".

But while Maiquel proves an efficient and cold-blooded assassin, he yearns to lead a "normal" life - complete with wife, family and a proper job. His dilemma is made even worse when, having married the pregnant Cledir, his new wife serves up his beloved pet piglet Bill for his birthday dinner.

As Maiquel assumes the status of official vigilante, and his power and influence increase (especially after he heads up a security firm run clandestinely by a local cop), he starts to alienate several of his friends and supporters, in particular Erica, who seeks solace in the church.

Based on the award-winning novel O Matador by Patricia Melo, José Henriqué Fonseca's debut movie is claustrophobic, oblique and dangerously amusing.

The depiction of Rio society and its attendant problems - the grip of the Catholic Church, chronic unemployment and the latent racism, misogyny and bigotry that fuels much of the movie's action - is deftly drawn.

Compared with the magnificent City of God, this is a weird and violent sideshow, and Maiquel's journey may be hard to fathom. But his confusion is touchingly expressed, even as he pulls the trigger.

The Man Of The Year (O Homem Do Ano)
Cert: cert15