This Duvall feature is quirky, touching, beautiful, odd, and by a man whose politics I do not at all like, yet I have to say that its qualities, including the camera work, the cutting, the music, the actors, the spoken script come close to creating a film Fellini would have been pleased to have authored. The crude, centered, killer played by Duvall has such love for his girlfriend's child it is palpable. The character's professionalism in his trade is of the highest order...the highest order in a lowly profession...though in this instance his job does have positive results in terms of assassinating a monster who took refuge in Argentina from Germany.
His little, tightly wound but precise killer is, like the dance which carries the spirit of a place and people in the film, and the panther which his dance teacher admires, is a wary watchful beast whose devotion to the ten year old daughter redeems him in part. Great performances across the board. Gesture, sounds, perfect. Chapeaux.