Marcello is a timid, weak-minded dog groomer in a lower class neighborhood. He's a loving father and a dog lover. He deals coke to volatile brute Simoncino who terrorizes the neighborhood and never pays for anything. He gets pushed into joining Simoncino in his crime sprees. The situation spirals out of control as Simoncino's relentless brutality is matched only by Marcello's meekness.

Marcello's pathetic nature is a bit frustrating at first. His character becomes very compelling as he gets more complex. He is like a dog mistreated by his violent master. He shows his humanity and his soft nature but he is moulded by his handler. There is a magnetism to his meekness. They are all very compelling characters. Despite his flaws and the inevitable tragedy, one hopes for the best. It's a brilliant character study.

Here we got "Dogman", certainly not the first film with this title and probably also not the last. This one is new from 2018 and an Italian production. The director is Matteo Garrone and he is also one of several writers attached to this project, certainly one of Italy's most successful filmmakers these days. But without being disrespectful in any way towards him, I think that this film is less him and most of all lead actor Marcello Fonte. I am not surprised he received a big honor at Cannes and other awards as well. He is really the heart and sould of these 105 minutes and the reason why I enjoyed it so much. There is a crucial break in his performance when his character spends one year in prison and gets out as somebody else. It could have gone wrong easily with us not knowing what happened there and that it did not feel up authentic how he changed. But it does. He still has shades of his former self, but the year did something with him. Lets also not forget Edoardo Pesce who plays his part very well too as the bullying brute who harms everybody in the neighborhood in one way or the other, most of them physically. There is a comment by another town member saying he will be killed one way or another at some point with how he behaves and eventually it proves to be true. it is just that the one who does it is not really the one you'd expect to do it. Or lets say "they" expect to do it. We, i.e. the audience, expect him to do it as we see the poster (elephant anyone),maybe read about it in the plot, so it does not come that surprising eventually. Then we can also talk about the killing scene. There are some really violent scenes in here, but that one tops it all and was even for me somebody who has a sick skin a bit tough to stomach because how graphic it was, not because I liked the character. Obviously not. I also wonder to what extent the main character staged it and intended to kill him this way because it was self defense somewhat and I assume that at some point he knew he had to kill him (maybe when he got out of his cage) and could not let him go because it would be the other way around then and he would not leave his store alive.

The store can be used as a direct reference to the film title. Is he a superhero? No. But he is an underdog who achieves something out of the ordinary, something big you could even say perhaps. And I am not talking about the scene where he saves the frozen dog. or where he manages to clean the dangerous dog in the very first scene. Maybe it is also no coincidence that you find the word Dogma in the title. Moving on to the ending. The bad guy is dead and our "hero" proceeds to tell everybody what he did. But nobody's there, he is all alone with the corpse. I struggled a bit with the ending initially I must say, but now I like it. It feels normal and realistic. There are no people applauding him, even if they want the brute dead as we find out earlier. Well, "earlier" means over a year ago already in this context. And lets not forget that the protagonist here is far from a good guy, even if he just wants to pull through with his business, be good acquaintances with his neighbors and has a loving relationship with his daughter. He is involved in criminal activities too and not only because he is forced to do so. But he does have a bit of a conscience I give him that. And he is ready to feel friendship as early on he is definitely a friend to the main antagonist. The longer the film goes, especially after the prison sentence, he becomes more self-confident and masculine and there are battles of power between the two occasionally, not just when the bad guy is in the cage, but also for example when the two stop arguing thanks to the drugs offered by the main character to the bad guy. Honestly, there is a lot more one could say about this film, but I think that should be all for now. I was on the edge of my seat most of the time and I thought this was a very tense and atmospheric watch. I am still surprised Italy picked it as their official Oscar submission this year as I have a feeling the Academy will not appreciate the movie as much as they should and Garrone could come short again this year. But it would be nice if it gets nominated for an Oscar. Definitely deserving. I highly recommend seeing this one if (and that is a big if) you can stomach the brutal violence.

This is quite an odd movie. It is about a guy who loves dogs and also tries to be nice to everybody. In the meantime he also likes to get money (I know who doesn't right?) and doesn't seem to have a real moral compass. So can we root for him? Can we accept a main character who seems good (morally speaking),but is also quite bad when it comes to judgement? The least you can attest to him is that he is greedy.

Again a not easy movie to watch, especially because it is rather slow in its story telling. Yet if you get into it, there is quite a lot to cherish and discover. So if you like dramas that are more about characters and gray areas, this is for you. Quality acting and story overall for those who care. And that is not judging - which again is something you are asked to do yourself during watching - at least to a certain degree