DOGMAN (2018)

Best known for his portrait of modern Neapolitan mob culture in GOMORRAH/’08, and currently for the first of three new adaptations of PINOCCHIO (three too many?), this fine threat of a film from Mateo Garrone is an unnerving cautionary tale about the dangers of codependency with a sociopath.  Marcello Fonte, small, slight, likeable, a loving divorced father & self-employed dog groomer, is also a recreational cocaine dealer, largely to keep up his side of things with a teenage daughter.  It’s also positioned him far too close to town tough Edoardo Pesce, a terrifyingly out-of-control addict, an amoral thug with less empathy than a sewer rat.  Built like a linebacker and slow-thinking, if not dumb, he’s in near constant rage at whatever stands between him and his momentary goal.  A ticking time bomb constantly in debt, he coerces Fonte into various burglary schemes that barely pay off.  And, when one goes seriously wrong, leaving Fonte to serve a year’s term in his place.  Welching on their deal when he gets out, the worm finally turns.  Garrone captures the downscale working-class Italian seaside atmosphere with bravura visuals that seem utterly simple, even crude when necessary, while amping up suspense & violence waiting around the corner.  It’s one smart moviemaking decision after another, none more so than starting the film with the sick codependency a surprise but also a long established given.  No pat backstory explanations or facile psychology.  And, in a truly great opening, having Fonte at his shop, taming a vicious dog in a manner he no doubt imagines could work just as well as on Pesce.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: As mentioned, GOMORRAH: https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2010/07/gomorrah-2008.html