Dogman (2018)

Good script (albeit with some narration jumps) production and perfomances but absurdly dramatic to the point that it becomes exhausting.

Fmovies: Dogman is a movie about the perennial fight between good and evil, stage in a forgotten, surreal suburb in the Rome province. Its population is a small working class community living life on the edge between legality and small criminality, with the common goal of surviving another day. In this context Marcello, a dog sitter, is a child like soul, bullied by the thug of the quarter, Simone; Marcello loves his dogs, loves his job, loves his daughter and desperately tries to love life, hoping against hope that he will be able to get away with his thousands subterfuges. Marcello is no hero, he's actually a weakling, a coward, and when he finds the strength not to betray it will be for the wrong person. In the end, in his long struggle for survival and for hope, he will discover the ultimate courage to try and win evil through evil, just to discover that that will be his final road to an infinite loneliness. Dogman is a crude, intense movie, well directed with sapient camera movements, where the solo performance of Marcello stands out with his magnificent facial and eyes expressions.

Superb casting and photography by Garrone. Must see imho because the line between good and bad is not as sharp as black and white. Grey is the dominant colour even in the beautiful surroundings of Caste Volturno. Marcello Fonte deserves an award for his performance as dog groomer, father and criminal victim.

Dogman fmovies. Matteo Garrone's DOGMAN starts off fairly strongly, but it unfortunately runs out of steam before the third act even begins... and then the third act has the gall to conclude with an unsatisfying final shot. I struggle to connect with films that focus on morally reprehensible characters, no matter how well-crafted the films themselves might be (ex. RAGING BULL, GOODFELLAS), and DOGMAN fits right in that category. The film focuses on Marcello, a timid dog groomer regularly accosted by towering neighborhood bully Simone, who starts off as an interesting character thanks to Marcello Fonte's great performance, but by the end of the film I was disillusioned by the character's frustratingly idiotic decisions, as well as Garrone's attempts to make the audience sympathize with a character who wasn't worthy of sympathy. There's a very tricky tightrope that a director and performer must navigate when attempting to create a morally reprehensible character that an audience can still sympathize with. Garrone and Fonte fall off that tightrope about halfway through the film. Just because Marcello cares for his daughter and works as a dog groomer (the dogs are easily the best part of this film) doesn't make him any less of a detestable character, as exemplified by a resoundingly foolish decision he makes at the end of the second act that made my eyes roll so hard I saw the inside of my skull.

I know I've mainly expressed my dislike for DOGMAN so far, but the performances (especially from Fonte and Edoardo Pesce) are great, Nicolai Brüel's cinematography is a delight (I particularly enjoyed how much the takes here were longer than usual), and there's a satisfying streak of dark humor running through it all. That being said, there's just too many bone-headed decisions made throughout the course of the film for me to recommend it.

"Dogman" brings the story of Marcello. As the movie opens, we see Marcello groom a dog in his shop, which is called Dogman. We get to know Marcello, who sells some drugs on the side to make ends meet, and who more than anything care much for his daughter whom he sees occasionally. Among his friends (?) is Simon, a former boxer who terrorizes the neighborhood. Simon "convinces" Marcello to participate in a jewel heist, but when things go wrong, Marcello is picked up by the cops. Marcello refuses to rat out Simon and is sentenced to one year in jail... What will happen when Marcello is released a year later? To tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from Matteo Garrone, who previously brought us the excellent mafia drama "Gomorrah". Here he delves into the lives of small crimes, and along the way examines the human condition. Due to the plot-heavy nature of the film, I can't go into much more details, sorry, just take my word for it that this is an intense but very rewarding movie experience. Marcello Fonte is outstanding in the lead role. The photography is excellent as well (the movie was shot in Castel Volturno, just north of Napoli).

"Dogman" premiered at this year's Cannes film festival, to immediate acclaim. Fonte won the Best Actor award. I happen to catch this movie during a recent family visit to Belgium. The early evening screening where I saw this at in Antwerp, Belgium was attended okay (about 15 people). I have no idea if this will reach US theaters, but imagine that if not else, this will be available on VOD and other platforms. If you are interested in a top notch foreign movie about the human conditions, I readily suggest you check this out when you can, and draw your own conclusion.

First, let's say that's definitely not a crime movie, but a pure drama. The tale of a poor man, specialized in dogs, cleaning dogs, hair dressing dogs, dog toiletting, this kind of stuff. But also a petty drug pusher, a sort of dope provider for the local punks. One of them is a f...nasty, brutal SOB, the kind of character whose any audience wish to see burned, killed, car crashed, short or long range shot with a Weatherby 460...A disgusting punk who abuses anyone besides him. And of course our lead is not the latest to endure the - maybe - nastier SOB in movie history. So every one in the audience waits for our poor dude to take revenge. We have already seen this before. This could be a Netflix topic, I mean not for large audiences, not for sissies eating the poultry with the whole family, but this is damn, efficient. Only misses the "prison" sequence of our lead character, the perfect anti hero. This could have been very interesting to see him behind bars, how he behaves with the other inmates, the kind of guys very the same as the lead motherf....But that would have made a three hour feature. Or at least a mini series. yes, that's it. This movie should have been a mini series. Anyway, this is a true masterpiece.