Few directorial debuts can be as intriguing as that of American acting maverick John Malkovich.

A veteran of movies ranging from Dangerous Liaisons to Con Air, the cultured star was also immortalised in the quirky Being John Malkovich.

Here his role is off camera in this beguiling if flawed big screen version of Nicholas Shakespeare's novel loosely based on Peru's notorious Shining Path guerrilla group.

Malkovich obviously knows his cast well - the choice of Oscar-nominated Bardem - so good in Before Night Falls - already guarantees a seal of quality.

He plays lawyer-turned-police officer Rejas, a principled yet pragmatic professional charged with bringing mysterious terrorist leader Ezequiel to justice.

The "Fourth Flame of Communism" has sown the revolutionary seeds of discontent in the poor villages via a series of bloody notices attached to garrotted animals.

Soon any form of authority - priests, mayors and army officers - are the target of crude attacks, with Ezequiel happy to use 10-year-old boys as suicide bombers.

In one memorable scene, a trio of mini-skirted schoolgirls tempt the eye of a lecherous admiral then gun him and his entourage down in a bloody firefight.

With Ezequiel's identity still a mystery, the right-wing regime grows impatient with Rejas's above-board methods and resort to military law.

Bardem's sympathetically strong performance provides the central thrust, with support ranging from the able Morante as the ballet teacher love interest to a vampish pseudo American who appears to have wandered in from another movie.

Locations - particularly Oporto - are well used, lending the plot, which starts promisingly then wanders off into the surreal, a realistic background against which to unfold.

It's too long - well over two hours - and some of the script (delivered in highly accented English) jars, but it would be a shame if we had to wait another 17 years for Malkovich to direct after being asked.

Tim Evans