Self-consciously artsy and needlessly confusing, Portuguese film director Joao Pedro Rodrigues' "O Fantasma" is, nevertheless, a remarkably assured debut effort chronicling the psychological disintegration of a sexually obsessed young garbage collector living on the squalid fringes of turn-of-the-21st-Century Lisbon. Sergio is a rootless, carnal being, barely verbal, animalistic, and driven by impulses and urges that seem to spring more from instinct than intellect: it's telling that Sergio seems to prefer the company of his dog, whose actions he seems to mimic in his interactions with other humans. The few people Sergio actually does communicate with are co-workers with whom he maintains a tense, fragile bond that always seems to teeter on the edge of violence. When Sergio is on the job, he routinely sifts through other people's garbage, often finding masturbatory tokens (men's underwear, motorcycle gloves, a shiny, latex catsuit) for later gratification. Wh...
