The film "Dogman" directed by Matteo Garrone, who shot "Gomorra" and won the Grand Prix for it in 2008. A motion picture film tells how a “little man” in a small Italian town faces a big and difficult life choice - whether to serve a prison sentence for a friend who has committed a crime. I believe that Garrone in this film continues the work begun in the previous ones - consistently destroys the myth of idyllic Italy and tells the other about Italy - evil, uncomfortable and provincial.
Man to man - dog. Marcello, the owner of the Dogman dog salon on the outskirts of a seaside Italian town, knows this very well. He understands that dogs are different - dangerous fighting breeds and indoor, defenseless. Therefore, it prefers to observe the hierarchy. He himself - something like a small terrier. He was accepted into a flock of local authorities: the manager of a small casino, the owner of a small pawnshop, and other grated and experienced men. However, he also makes friends with a homeless and, possibly, rabid dog Simoncino - a former boxer and a cocaine addict, a robber and a fighter who terrifies the entire quarter. This risky partnership leads him to the brink of disaster: when Simoncino hacks a pawnshop, suspicion falls on Marcello. Now he is faced with a difficult choice - to surrender a chum or to serve time for him.
In "Dogman", one of the leaders of modern Italian cinema Matteo Garrone goes back to its roots. He became known to the whole world in 2008 after the success of “Gomorra”, a colossal fresco dedicated to a non-romantic description of the criminal communities of present-day Italy. Then he rethought the legacy of Fellini in the phantasmagoric "Reality" and unsuccessfully (in a commercial sense) made his debut in an English-language film with "Tale of Tales". Now he remembered again the minimalist, intimate and extremely tough paintings that made him a name in his home country, such as L'imbalsamatore and Primo amore. "Dogman" is most like them.
Garrone's whole life explores the nature of obsession. On which compromises a person is ready to go in order to adapt to the world around him and find a place for himself in it, and where his flexibility suddenly ends, leading to fracture. About this and "Dogman". The protagonist of the film, flawlessly played by Marcello Fonte, whose irregular features and disarming smile remind of the early years of neorealism, is a classic little man. He has one humblest dream: take his daughter to the islands, show her the world and impress her. In addition, one love - dogs, for which he cares gently and attentively, for whom he is ready to sacrifice comfort, safety, almost life. His submission to the merciless Simoncino (textured to the horror of Edoardo Pesce), who forcibly transforms a trouble-free dogmaker into an accomplice, is a forced strategy necessary for survival. However, even those like Marcello have their limits of patience.
"Dogman" - the story of everyday madness, gradually gaining momentum. Formally, a realistic film is placed in the carefully constructed universe of urban hell. With a few strokes, on a territory of less than a square kilometer, Garrone builds a model of the world so stingy and exhaustively hopeless that it aches the heart. Even the sea, on the shore of which this world is located, does not hint at the possibility of fleeing somewhere towards the horizon. After all, to run away, you need money, which is always not enough, even for simple needs. Probably, “Dogman” is also a commentary on the economic situation in Italy, although his world looks too conditional to talk about it with confidence. Mostly, only the currency indicates that the action takes place in the 21st, not the 20th century - the euro is no longer paid in lira.
https://youtu.be/sXJQP7E0d9o[Dogman trailer official (English) from Cannes](https://youtu.be/sXJQP7E0d9o)
In all his films, no matter how different in genre and tasks they may seem, Garrone consistently and skillfully destroys the eternal myth of sweet Italy - a country of historical monuments and high fashion, hearty food and bucolic landscapes. His Italy is not just poor and provincial - it is uncomfortable, embittered, and invariably cruel to the weak. For those who want to avoid this cruelty, there is only one-way: to become a predatory beast. People in "Dogman", in strict accordance with the title, in the eyes turn into animals. When the final of the film drowns the shaking spectator in blood, the only hope for humanity is the dogs, gazing out of their cages at the insane people.
The illustrations are used in agreement with the Depositphotos photobank
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