Movie Review: Dogman

Dogman *** / *****

Directed by: Matteo Garrone,

Written by: Ugo Chiti & Matteo Garrone & Massimo Gaudioso and Marco Perfetti & Damiano D'Innocenzo & Fratelli D'Innocenzo & Giulio Troli.

Starring: Marcello Fonte (Marcello), Edoardo Pesce (Simoncino), Nunzia Schiano (Madre Simoncino), Adamo Dionisi (Franco), Francesco Acquaroli (Proprietario Videolottery), Gianluca Gobbi (Proprietario Ristorante), Alida Baldari Calabria (Alida), Laura Pizzirani (Madre Alida), Giancarlo Porcacchia (Gasparone), Aniello Arena (Ispettore Polizia).

 

Poor Marcello. The protagonist of Italian director Matteo Garrone’s latest, obvious allegory Dogman is a simple man. In his dead-end Italian town – where everything, and everyone is just a little bit dirty – he has carved out a tiny niche for himself. He has a dog grooming business – it’s not much, but it’s his. He has a circle of friends – the other shopkeepers in the area, who are nice enough. He has a daughter he adores – and an ex-wife who is basically nice enough to him. All he really wanted was this simple, small life. That would be enough to make him happy. And, of course, he’ll mess it all up.

 

The mess he makes begins before the movie does. To make some extra money, he deals a little cocaine on the side – although, he only seems to have one customer – Simoncino (Edoardo Pesce) for the cocaine. Simoncino is a violent thug – he basically terrorizes everyone in town, none of whom can really do anything to stop him. He doesn’t even pay for the cocaine – or much of anything else. Everyone else hates Simoncino – the other shopkeepers even discuss hiring someone from out of town to “take care of him” – but Marcello is drawn to him anyway. As played by Marcello Fonte, Marcello is a small man – think Al Pacino circa The Godfather – and he will never command the kind of respect and fear that Simoncino does. But when he hangs out with Simoncino – he gets a taste of what it must be like. Simoncino is a short tempered psychopath – he never really thinks through any of his actions, and he doesn’t much care. Marcello isn’t like that – he even returns to a crime scene when he hears Simoncino and his partner threw a Chihuahua into a freezer to save the little pup.

 

The film is basically a rather blunt and obvious allegory about the seduction of power. Simoncino is a stand-in for the mafia or fascism – groups that wield enormous power, and how that power can be seductive to someone like Marcello, who has no power of his own. If he just goes along with them, he’ll get that power too. Of course, the powerful don’t think about the Marcello’s of the world as much as the Marcellos think about the power. The Marcellos are meaningless to them – people they can use and discard when they are done with them. And sometimes, the Marcellos snap.

 

Yes, the allegory is rather obvious – particularly since Garrone has done something similar before, most notably in Gomorrah. But everything else in the movie is far better than the obvious message. Fonte is legitimately great in this role – a small, but basically good man, who gets in over his head – (somewhat) willingly, and then are burned by the harsh truth. He really does remind you of a younger Pacino – perhaps a younger Dustin Hoffman – as he gets sucked in and cannot get out. The film looks terrific as well. We’re used to seeing the beautiful Italy on screen – but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen this Italy before. It’s dirty and dusty and rundown. It’s a small, dead-end town – just like small dead-end towns everywhere. The people in it are sad and powerless – and can turn on you quickly.

I do wish that the film was a little less blunt in its messaging – and perhaps, given Marcello a little more agency. Everything he does seems logical in many ways – even when he starts making increasingly bad decisions, he does so out of fear more than anything else (or at least, it can be read that way). I kind of wish he was more responsible than he ends up being for his own downfall – because I think that is what the film is trying to say.

 

Still, it’s a fine film – a kind of return to form after 2015’s Tale of Tales for Garrone, a film that looked great, but I didn’t much care for. Its ambitions are small scale – but real. And subtlety has never really been Garrone’s style. Dogman is a fine film – but it probably could have and should have been better – especially since the ending is an appropriate, sick gut punch.