Puerto Escondido

Surprisingly, from the maker of Mediterraneo, this opens with an edgy comic menace as self-important Milan banker Mario (Abatantuono) is blasted at close range by a smiling serial killer. He survives, but is visited in hospital by his assailant - a police commissioner investigating the case. It's like The Trial meets Man Bites Dog until Mario, having anxiously befriended the killer cop, dumps him and flees to South America. As his designer suit frays and money fails, he falls in with fellow Italians, a peyote-loving beach bum (Bisio) and his girl (Golino), who find their already incompetent scams hopelessly compromised by their lazy, cowardly house guest. The film's all over the place and has its longueurs, but succeeds thanks to Abatantuono's performance. Full marks, too, for the dark, unpatronising picture of Mexico, throwing into deeper relief the merry antics of the protagonists.