Deborah Ross

Man bites man

Plus there a lots of lovely dogs, which always helps, and none of them are harmed – except a chihuahua

Matteo Garrone’s Dogman, which is Italy’s entry for the foreign language Oscar next year, is bleak, unflinching, oppressive, masculine (very), violent (shockingly) and basically everything you’d expect me to hate. Except I didn’t. It is out of the ordinary. It has a magical central performance. It is tense, as you wait for the little man to face down the big man, if he does. Plus there are lots of lovely dogs, which always helps, and none are harmed. Aside, that is, from the yapping chihuahua thrown into a freezer to shut it up. So there is that, too.

Garrone, who is known for the terrific Gomorrah, and also the highly odd Tale of Tales, has set the film in a poor Italian coastal town where the skies are grey, the buildings are crumbling and the playground equipment is derelict. Ken Loach territory, in other words, but with a better diet. (The people have little money but cook proper meals and don’t eat rubbish, I couldn’t help but note.) It’s the story of Marcello (Marcello Fonte), who owns the dog-grooming establishment next door to the cash-for-gold shop. Marcello is childlike, eager to please, not macho in the slightest, and a simple man. He wants to be liked by his neighbours. He is most at home when lovingly tending his canine clientele. He calls them all ‘sweetie’ and there are some wonderful moments, particularly involving a poodle and its quiff and the Great Dane who doesn’t look happy with its pedicure. (I don’t know if it asked for its money back.) He also has a young daughter, Alida, whom he adores. They live separately, as he has split from her mother, but they enjoy their scuba-diving trips, funded by his business on the side, which is cocaine dealing.

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