Dogman

Told through unflinching shots in grayish hues, Matteo Garrone's film keeps viewers holding their breath to the bitter end.

A very uncomfortable film, but I liked it a lot anyways.

Suffused with a very dark vein of black humour, the film is dramatically tense and emotionally raw.

Dogman can be unpleasant to watch, as films about bullying commonly are. But on its own terms it's well-made and even gripping.

A first-rate character study and morality play, set inside a rough-and-tumble drama from the mob world.

Dogman illustrates the ruinous effects organized crime can have on even its most puppyish bit players.

[Director Matteo] Garrone shows us how far the human soul can go after having suffered acts of psychological violence. [Full review in Spanish]

The level of despair, misery and hopelessness in a small town in Italy can be very local and universal at the same time [Full Review in Spanish]

It also has a storybook surreality, thanks to the crumbling setting and Fonte's magical performance. Marcello's like the kid with a catapult (in his case dog clippers) up against Simone's marauding ogre.

Within Dogman lie a semi-developed duality between the inner and the outer, its philosophies matching those often seen in Eastern cinema, and it mostly works.