Hi everyone!

It’s Friday, so it’s time for another Fantastic Fest feature from our good friend Andrew Campbell. He’s been wagging his tail since the last review, looking forward to today’s film that has been doing very well with the critics. How will it fare with Andrew? He’ll let you know in a minute, but for a few other reviews from Andrew, check out “Girls With Balls” (Episode #558), “Lords of Chaos” (Episode #551), and “Liza the Fox-Fairy” (Episode #544).

Before the review, we’ll have a promo for the Pop! Pour! Review podcast. You can find them on Twitter and Instagram @poppourreview, where you can find links to their most recent episode discussing “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood”, their custom drink recipe for The Hollywood, and some quick reviews and reflections of “The Third Man” and “Thelma & Louise”. 

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Here we go! 

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<< POP! POUR! REVIEW PROMO >>

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Hello film fans!

Andrew here - back this week with the final leg of our trip through Europe, traveling south as well as 30 years into the past to rural Italy. 

But before we get there... Fantastic Fest has dropped their first wave of films premiering at the festival next month and I’m psyched. Among a treasure trove of genre films from all corners of the world that I had never heard of are a few movies that should be on your radar.

First among them is “JoJo Rabbit”, an irreverent black comedy written by, directed by, and starring “Thor: Ragnarok”’s Taika Waititi as a young boy’s imaginary friend – a cheeky Adolph Hitler. Taiki will be in attendance, hopefully not in character. Prolific Japanese horror master Takashi Miike is bringing his crime drama “First Love” from Cannes over to Austin. And, continuing with the never-ending Stephen King Renaissance, “In the Tall Grass”, based on the novella King penned with son Joe Hill, will make its world premiere just weeks before debuting on Netflix.

But perhaps the best announcement is that yours truly, amateur film reviewer no more, will be making my premiere as the holder of a press badge at the festival. Do I still have to pay full price? Absolutely. But will I get the opportunity to interview Taika Waititi? Not a chance in hell. Still, I’m thrilled and I look forward to covering what I’m certain will be another awesome year.

Today’s movie is “Dogman”, written by Ugo Chiti, Massimo Gaudioso and Matteo Garrone and directed by Garrone. The film stars Marcello Fonte as Marcello, a friendly dog-groomer residing in a depressed Italian beachfront town in the late 1980s. Marcello is an affable man of short-stature in his early 40s, though he looks a bit older. He runs a small dog grooming shop off the dusty town square and spends his free time with a crowd of lifelong locals where he fits in as a sycophant, smiling along with the conversation without the confidence to add much to it. Marcello, amicably separated from his wife, deals small amounts of cocaine on the side and uses the money to take his doting teen daughter on trips around Europe. His simple existence is disrupted when the town bully (and occasional client of Marcello’s side hustle) begins to spiral out of control.

The film is a painfully accurate character study of a beta-male trying to survive. The slight Marcello is depicted grooming multiple dogs more than twice his size and is able to settle them down with his patient demeanor. Simone (Edoardo Pesce) is the bane of this sleepy seaside town as he comes into conflict with men on both sides of the law as well as the gray area in between. Though Marcello may have once been able to calm his ‘friend’ Simone as he does with the dogs, the massive thug begins to abuse Marcello with mounting impunity for drugs and money, forcing Marcello to become complicit in a growing list of crimes. The film is lathered in stress as both men reach their boiling point.

It’s easy to find sympathy for Marcello as he is able to withstand physical abuse and remain silent to an almost superhuman extent. Where the film excels is in posing the question as to at what point Marcello (dogman and drug-dealer) should be held culpable for his own crimes and for not finding a way out of his difficult situation. He’s a path-of-least-resistance kind of guy mired in circumstances where his perpetual earnestness, for once in his life, is not going to save him.

What makes “Dogman” fantastic? The film is loosely based on real events. Here, the real-life story is far more sensational than what’s depicted in this film, but that works to the film’s advantage. Marcello is immediately fascinating with a face as memorable as Steve Buscemi or the late John Cazale. Marcello’s world is small and lived-in and completely genuine.

“Dogman” (2018) is a character study masquerading as a crime story that wallows in pity and doubt. Fans of international films full of moral ambiguity, such as “Burning” (Episode #487) and “Shoplifters” (Episode #394), will enjoy this film.

Rotten Tomatoes: 82% (CERTIFIED FRESH)

Metacritic: 71

One Movie Punch: 8.2/10 

“Dogman” (2018) is not rated and is currently streaming on Hulu. 

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Next week, we’ll finally take a break from the subtitles and take on “The Wind” – a horror film set in the Old West written and directed by two women making their feature film debuts. This one might be special as it’s a rare film released by IFC’s horror distribution arm, IFC Midnight, to get a Certified Fresh Rating. If that’s a fluke, I promise to come up with at least one clever joke about how much “The Wind” blows. Yeah, cut that line out, Joseph.

See you then!