The plot mirrors at least a dozen American thrillers: a drug dealer leaves prison, fearful of owing money to a Mr Big on the outside; he sets off around town trying to collect enough to placate the man; but it’s not enough and he has to take part in a dangerous robbery as a way of repaying his debt.
But this is not New York or LA. Director and writer Basil da Cunha, a Swiss of Portuguese origin, sets his debut feature within the poverty-stricken Creole slums of Lisbon where Sombra, his braided leading character, wanders the territory with his pet iguana, visits an aunt who sends him off to a latterday witch doctor and converses with an old friend who tells him that every man has his sell-by date.
After the Night (2013, cert 15, 99 mins) is a moral thriller with elements of documentary about it and is deliberately rough and ready. Da Cunha, aided by a charismatic performance from Pedro Ferreira as Sombra, shows us an extraordinary world inhabited by tough losers who refuse to give up completely and, in this case, an iguana who views them all with cautious curiosity.
After the Night is at Curzon Soho, W1 (0330 500 1331, curzoncinemas.com) on Apr 26-27 & 30.
