Dogman

Touching and chilling at the same time, Dogman captivates the viewer from the first to the last shot, both with its unique subject matter and the filmmaker’s take on it, and with the appropriate amount of sadness of the story and the grayness of the environment in which it takes place. One does not want to believe that this is part of the EU. It is praiseworthy that Garrone’s distinctive talent focuses on this side of Italy. I expected a little more from the ending, but it was alright. It helped me understand the main character’s peculiar decision. Marcello Fonte delivers an award-winning performance. [Cannes] (17.05.2018)

I sincerely envy anyone who found what they were looking for here. For my part, Garrone doesn't provide any guide to a character where I couldn't understand what defined her identity and motivations, so I've decided to accept my suspicion that he simply decided to sell a melodramatic story of a naive well-meaning outsider (cute little girl and doggies included) who somehow falls hard on his luck. And with the bonus of a double feature, in the touching tale of a marginalized actor who was discovered in a ditch somewhere and given a Cannes Palme d’Or by morning. Unfortunately, the fantastic cinematography, production design, and acting fail to obliterate the biggest problem of all, which is that I simply don't buy it. (22.01.2019)

Who would have guessed at the beginning that antagonizing the gunman Marcello could have fatal consequences? The submissive good-natured Dogman didn't exactly have an easy time, but in a way, he brought many of his troubles upon himself. Nonetheless, he also managed to extricate himself from them in the end. Italian director Matteo Garrone made an excellent social drama, which has several strong and very unpleasant scenes. The great Marcello Fonte, who plays the title role, captivated me so much with his authentic performance that there was very little missing for me to give the film five stars. (85%) (09.10.2021)

The main character of Dogman is probably the most interesting film character I have seen in a long time. You simply can’t stop rooting for him, but on the other hand you get pissed at him at certain moments because of where the story is going. The film’s setting is the right amount of bleak, the people are the right amount of Italian. Everybody fits in, like a deck of card fits into its box. And since everything is quite accurate and some of the shots are like the most beautiful ones from the rather unsightly Italian seacoast in autumn, you would expect that the revenge, which is what this movie is truly about, turns out like it usually would in a movie… and in the end, it turns out to be sort of… absurd. In my opinion, the ending could have been a bit more consistent and factual, but other than that it was one of my best Italian film experiences. (26.02.2019)

Matteo Garrone, who made the great morbid horror anthology Tale of Tales, now comes up with a dense, raw drama whose authenticity and bleakness will make you uncomfortable. The protagonist, played by Marcello Fonte (a perfect performance), is a typical good guy to the bone who loves his dogs and his only beloved daughter, but his life is terrorized by the local bully, a cocaine addicted former boxer who terrorizes everyone in the neighborhood, and everyone in town wishes him nothing but the worst, really, a man like a rabid dog worthy of being put down. The whole film is set in a bleak seaside town in dirty Italy and the two leads make the film very entertaining and engaging. The finale is grittier than I expected and you end up rooting for the main character to the max, even if some of his decisions were very ill-considered. A solid Indie affair that is both sad and chilling. 80% (04.01.2019)