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Dogman

The first time we tried catching Dogman at the Luna Leederville the showing was sold out, so we returned the next day. I reckon the full house may have had more to do with the fact that there were 24 seats in the screening room than any 'buzz' around the film. This was selected for competition at Cannes and Matteo Garrone is a fairly big name in Italian cinema, what with Gomorrah and Reality to his credit, but a sell-out? Hmmm. Anyway, Dogman is not a film based on the popular kids book, nor is it some kind of werewolf drama. It's Garrone's bleak look at the dodgy side of Italy - drugs, violence, poverty and unhinged masculinity (the only females in the film are the Dogman's ex(?)-wife and daughter).

The dogman of the title is a dog groomer/kennel owner, played by relative unknown, Marcello Fonte and for all his simpering unlikeability, he's pretty good in this, his first lead role. He actually won the Best Actor award at Cannes for the role. There are hints of Garrone's other Italian films here (the ones I've seen, at least) in the run-down setting and naturalistic performances but it's the themes that run through his work that show the clearest link. These are probably best summed up as futility and resignation. The characters in Dogman (as in Gomorrah and Reality) are from the low end of town, struggling to get by. The cycle of poverty and disenfranchisement eats away at them until circumstances push them over the edge. The spotlight in this film is on a horrible relationship between two guys - one bully, the other bullied. I found myself getting frustrated at Marcello (the weak dogman) and his inability to stand up to the bully (Simone, played boof-headedly by Eduardo Pesce). But there's the reality of the situation. In many cases like this, nothing works. No heroes. No closure. No happy ending.

As much as I appreciated Dogman for showing places like this and people like this, I was fairly bored throughout the film. Maybe the pace, maybe the uncomfortable nature but it didn't leave much of a mark on me. Still I'll be looking out for Garrone's next film - maybe I'll even turn up earlier next time.

See also:

Garrone's Reality (2012) and a different take on bullying, Tomas Alfredson's, Let the Right One In (2008).

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