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Matteo Garrone's Dogman

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  • Matteo Garrone's Dogman

    The latest from the director of Gomorrah.

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6768578/

    "Marcello is a dog groomer who wants two things, to look after his dogs and take his daughter on exotic holidays. But to fund this lifestyle he runs a side business which has more unsavoury clientele and he soon finds himself involved in a dangerous relationship of subjugation with Simone, a former violent boxer who terrorises the entire neighbourhood. When Simone exploits him too much Marcello must make a crucial and potentially dangerous decision in order to regain his dignity."

    Rock! Shock! Pop!

  • #2
    New trailer and a good article on the film here.

    Rock! Shock! Pop!

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    • #3
      Waiting for the UK Blu-ray. Garrone is one of the most talented directors out there and I've never been disappointed by him before.

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      • #4
        I would like to see Dogman. I remember liking Gomorrah & would very much like to see it again.

        Damn, I didn't know Gomorrah had been released on bd by Criterion! I'll have to pick that up in the near future.
        Keeth
        Senior Member
        Last edited by Keeth; 01-23-2019, 10:21 PM.

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        • #5
          I watched this last night. It's a beautifully shot film with a very distinctive aesthetic and a strong sense of location. There's some very clever stuff going on under the surface - eg, the parallels between the loutish Simone and the temperamental dog Marcello is grooming in the opening sequence. The basic plot - a put-upon little man becoming suckered into the influence of a petty criminal - felt very authentic and it reminded me of my youth, where I remember seeing similar relationships developing amongst my peers, some of which ended up on the criminal path and/or in prison because of it. (I also grew up in a coastal town, so the decaying look of the film's main setting felt very 'real' to me too.) The escalation to the climax almost sent me into a panic attack, though I thought the final sequence fumbled the ball very slightly. All in all, though, it's an excellent film and definitely worth viewing.
          'You know, I'd almost forgotten what your eyes looked like. Still the same. Pissholes in the snow'

          http://www.paul-a-j-lewis.com (my photography website)
          'All explaining in movies can be thrown out, I think': Elmore Leonard

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          • #6
            Director Matteo Garrone's (REALITY) latest is a morose story about a diminutive Dog Groomer (the shop is called Dogman) Marcello (Marcello Fonte) in a desolate poor Italian town outside Naples. The populace is menaced by a brutish thug Simoncino (Edoardo Pesce), who, takes particular advantage of the meek Marcello, including involving the Dogman as an unwitting partner in his petty crimes.
            Fonte is superb as the title character, imbuing the part with a depth of feeling that, frankly, isn't on the page (Garrone is the co-writer along with frequent collaborators Ugo Chiti and Massimo Guadioso). We fleetingly see Marcello's ex-wife, and his precocious daughter, but, never get much detail into what makes the character tick. His interactions with the other townspeople is similarly thinly sketched. Even the Dogman aspect isn't really developed, despite a good amount of screen time is spent between Marcello and the canines. They add color, but, end up only having thin symbolic import.
            Truth be told, Garrone's strength isn't as a story-teller. Even his magnificent GOMORRAH was more of a docudrama told with a God's POV where the Camora crime syndicate was the "lead character". (It has spun off onto a continuing TV series without Garrone's involvement). Where Garrone excels is his visual sense. His previous picture, TALE OF TALES, was one of the best looking productions of 2016. Too bad it had the briefest of theatrical showings and was mostly seen via streaming on the small screen. One gets a real feel for the location, as if one had spent much more time there than the run time of a feature film. The other tech credits are in proper service.
            Despite its strong lead performance and its universal theme of the little guy standing up to a bully, DOGMAN is a disappointment, even if a compelling one in parts.

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