Synopsis
Marcello, a small and gentle dog groomer, finds himself involved in a dangerous relationship of subjugation with Simone, a former violent boxer who terrorizes the entire neighborhood. In an effort to reaffirm his dignity, Marcello will submit to an unexpected act of vengeance.
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Cast
- Marcello FonteMarcello
- Edoardo PesceSimoncino
- Nunzia SchianoSimoncino's Mother
- Adamo DionisiFranco
- Francesco AcquaroliFrancesco, Video Lottery Owner
- Alida Baldari CalabriaAlida
- Gianluca GobbiRestaurant Owner
- Laura PizziraniAlida's Mother
- Giancarlo PorcacchiaGasparone
- Aniello ArenaPolice Inspector
Recommendations
- 100
The Guardian
A movie with incomparable bite and strength. - 100
Screen Daily
Perhaps the most impressive thing about a hugely impressive exercise in directorial control is the fact that we come away from an intensely violent film, a film where bones crunch and blood smells, touched by pathos and a strange sense of hope. - 90
The Hollywood Reporter
Though it has far less outright violence than Gomorrah, whose oppressive criminal atmosphere it shares, Matteo Garrone's Dogman is just as intense a viewing experience, one that will have audiences gripping their armrests with its frighteningly real portrayal of a good man tempted by the devil. - 80
The Telegraph
Dogman unfolds its relatively straightforward story with both thrilling style and serious moral force: it’s a sensation judged on either bark or bite. - 80
Time Out
Newcomer Fonte is terrific in the lead role, communicating Marcello’s meek protests with a twitchy physicality that grows slowly into a sketchy defiance. - 67
The A.V. Club
The lead performance, from the mostly unknown Fonte, is a small symphony of crumbling ingratiation: the portrait of a good man trying to cling to his principles in the face of stubborn, selfish immorality. - 60
CineVue
Involving and well made, rather than something flat-out great and essential. - 60
Variety
Fonte, it must be said, gives an expert performance as a saintly scamp who “blooms” into a butterfly of vengeance. I might have bought what he’s doing in a different film, but the one that Garrone has made strains too hard to have it both ways.
