Film Forum

A new film from the acclaimed director of GOMORRAH (2008), DOGMAN is set in a seaside village on the outskirts of an Italian city, where the only law seems to be survival of the fittest. Marcello (Marcello Fonte, in a Cannes Best Actor-winning performance) is a slight, mild-mannered man who divides his days between working at his modest dog grooming salon, caring for his daughter, and being coerced into petty criminal schemes by the local bully Simoncino – an ex-boxer who terrorizes the neighborhood. Until Simoncino’s abuse finally brings Marcello to a breaking point.

ITALY / FRANCE   2018   102 MINS.   IN ITALIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES   MAGNOLIA PICTURES

Reviews

“A handsome return to form for [GOMORRAH filmmaker] Matteo Garrone... layer(s) the brutish and the beautiful.”
– Anthony Lane, The New Yorker

“A potent, effective crime fable… (with) a healthy dollop of Scorsese-ish thuggishness and Leone-tinged vengeance. Fonte... is spectacular, a marvel of misguided compassion and absorbed pain.”
– Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times

“Dark, absorbing, beautifully acted... (Fonte in a) consistently moving, understated performance. You feel you’re watching a real catastrophe, in a real man, in real time.”
– Stuart Klawans, The Nation

“Ferocious. A hyper-realistic urban tragedy. Fonte is reminiscent of a younger, gaunter version of Pacino in his ’70s heyday, and brings startling humanism to his role. Finds Garrone back in fine form and mostly, at the height of his game.”
– Jordan Ruimy, The Playlist

“5 STARS! The Italian director nitpicks gangster insecurities with hilarious flair in this tale of a dog-groomer-cum-small time coke dealer. A compelling opera of beta-male criminal martyrdom, inspired by a true case. It’s a movie which returns this film-maker to the realist mob world of his 2008 film GOMORRAH, but which goes further than that picture in explaining the toxic emotional inadequacy of gangsterism – its brutality, its sycophancy, its pusillanimity, its craven addictions. A movie with incomparable bite and strength.”
– Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian (UK)

“A frighteningly real portrayal of a good man tempted by the devil. A perfected version of Garrone’s THE EMBALMER, written in the form of his dark fables from TALE OF TALES. Superb performances by Marcello Fonte as a mild-mannered dog groomer and a crazed Edoardo Pesce as his fatal attraction poise the film midway between the realistic criminal world and a symbolic, universal dimension. Tense, tight and to the point, yet it finds room for a sardonic sense of humor.” 
– Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter

“★★★★  Matteo ‘GOMORRAH’ Garrone’s intimate parable of a downtrodden dog groomer is a well-crafted gem...the kind of fable Scorsese would tell his kids. Newcomer [Marcello] Fonte is terrific in the lead role.”
– Phil de Semlyen, Time Out

“★★★★★  One of the best Italian films of recent times.”
– Geoffrey Macnab, The Independent (UK)