The Dancer and the Thief (2009)

David Trueba again turns from documentary work to fiction, and blends a degree of surrealism into this moving story of two criminals recently released from a Chilean Jail: one is searching for the wife who has abandoned him for a millionaire and one who wants this master safe breaker to join him in a complex heist.

The latter meets and falls in love with a mute girl, Victoria, who aspires to dance, and sets out to help her achieve her desire.

All the actors play their roles extremely well. Miranda Bodenhofer as Victoia is new to the screen having been discovered by Trueba when, after many auditions, he recalled a girl he had seen eighteen months earlier in a dance class when researching locations. She delivers a moving and delicate interpretation of her key tole as the main subject of the film.

Ricardo Darín as Nicolás Vergara Grey, a jaded criminal, is perfectly cast, and Abel Ayala playing Ángel Santiago, the bright ambitious youngster, adds an optimism to the plot that goes beyond the script.