The dark and violent Peruvian Guard Dog is set in 2001, five years after a controversial amnesty for the government-sponsored death squads active in the previous decades. Our protagonist is the vestige of those death squads, an ascetic hit man who still performs some residual executions. He is a Man On A Mission, and one serious dude. After his opening hit, he takes out the photo of his victim and burns out the image’s eyes with his cigarette.
Guard Dog is ultimately more of a mood piece than a thriller. The theme of personal corruption keeps re-emerging, with a grossly rotting apartment ceiling and even a moment of pus-draining. The most interesting aspect of the story is our anti-hero’s encounters with an unjaded young girl who is, in contrast to him, bubbling and full of life.
I saw Guard Dog’s US Premiere at Cinequest, and it plays the fest again March 4 at the California Theatre and March 6 at Camera 12.