Dogman

josé neves

Is there any way out of this endless demonstratively expository sadistic-misanthrope discourse in contemporary cinema? With a realistic turn in this case, inevitably with the camera on the actors faces, the least realistic option in a movie, since they just compose a show off. The last frame, a general open shot, is very good and introduces, finally!, what is missing: a satirical weightlessness, almost Beckettian.

Carlos Filipe Freitas

Beautifully shot, this character study fascinates in an almost perverse way, building up adequate levels of tension throughout and bursting with disturbing scenes of violence. It is also a tale of solitude, equally tragic and funny, heavy and whimsical (4.5 stars)

anarresti

A strange tale. I watched it because of the dogs. and what a surprise. This is a very disturbing tale of violence, of peer pressure, bullying, fear. All in the grown-up world. It's hard to watch. Even if characters seem a bit like caricatures they never stop felling real, like real people. It's a bitter story, that does not provide answers. And I even hesitate about the right questions. People can really be sick.

Jérémy Poirier

FNC / Montréal / Entry 1: "Dogman", the latest from italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone is a savage, disturbing and heartbreaking character study. It is a twisted continuation of the eternal struggle between the bully and the bullied. It is like watching a chihuahua trying to measure against a rabid pitbull. This cannot end well. Plus, both Fonte and Pesce are extremely well cast and outstanding to look at. Great film.

Jason

One thing about me is that I no longer have any patience whatever for self-consciously serious or conspicuously classy revenge sagas. I chose not to see DOGMAN as a revenge saga so much as a film about impotence, resentment, and violence as a pollutant. It features a justly heralded lead performance and absolutely exquisite compositions. If I remained at all on the fence, the last two shots swayed me and slayed me.

msmichel

TIFF '18 Garrone's latest disappoints despite a Cannes winning performance from lead Marcello Fonte. He plays the titular character a man who must make a choice between loyalty to his family and neighbourhood against loyalty to a so-called friend. His choice strains credibility and the film flounders into a revenge tale after that lacking any emotional resonance or air of believability.

OFF_FRAME

Marcello Fonte is superb as the nuanced, buscemi-ish underdog carrying the literally back-breaking burden of loyalty and friendship in this darkly comic, violent tale of the quest for respect. Sublime photography and production design here but I was left hoping for a little more sweeter justice at the end. 4 stars

Tigrão

A brilliant tragi-comedy about a little man in a quest for respect. Marcello Fonte gives an incredible performance that might win him the Best Actor award in Cannes.