Mostra Internazionale d Arte Cinematografica Venice

By M.R. D’Amico

Dogman, horror and kindness

(in competition, 114 min)

Director, screenplay: Luc Besson. Cinematography: Colin Wandersman. Editor: Julien Rey. Music: Eric Serra.

Production: (France) An LBP, Europacorp, TF1 Films production. (World sales: Kinology, Paris.) Producers: Virginie Besson-Silla, Steve Rabineau. 

With: Caleb Landry Jones, Jojo T. Gibbs, Christopher Denham, Clemens Schick, John Charles Aguilar, Grace Palma, Iris Bry, Marisa Berenson, Lincoln Powell, Alexander Settineri.

Luc Besson is back… and he was really moved when his latest movie, Dogman received a 6-minute ovation in the historical Sala Grande and a second standing ovation at the press conference in Venice. It’s like in the old days when Leon and Nikita were a real surprise, in the same way Dogman could represent a new beginning, after the really disappointing Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.

Dogman, is a thriller, an action movie, a horror with kindness… Doug, played by a stunning Caleb Laundry Jones (he should definitely win a prize) is a severely traumatized young man who spent his childhood tortured and locked in a cage by his abusive father and brother with several dogs waiting to be trained for dog combats. He could have become another Joker but the loving bond between young Doug and the dogs saved his life… they behaved like real friends who were always there for him… Hundreds of dogs -“they are all my babies”, cries out grown up Doug, the dogman, in his wheel chair when he gets arrested for several crimes- they are also his reason for living, together with his amazing performances as a cross dressed singer in a queer club with a repertoire ranging from Edith Piaf to Marilyn Monroe. A kind psychiatrist (Jessica T. Gibbs) will listen to him sharing his infinite pain.

In the last five years Besson has been absent because he had to deal with the French justice, being accused of raping actress Sand Van Roy (Valerian) but was cleared of all charges in June by the Court of Cassation, the highest judicial court in France. Nevertheless many American and English film critics in Venice took notice but are probably still under the influence, so they hated Dogman… On the other hand Alberto Barbera, quoting the painter Caravaggio, has his own free opinion that he keeps repeating like a mantra: “Judge the art, not the artist”.

Fortunately, at the Berlin European Film Market Dogman was already sold to more than a dozen countries.