Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		5.0

Dogman Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 9, 2019

Winner of Best Actor Award, Matteo Garrone's "Dogman" (2018) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Curzon/Artificial Eye. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; Q&A session with the director and the star of his film; deleted scenes; and storyboards. In Italian, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

The loser and the beast

A little over ten years ago Matteo Garrone apparently approached Roberto Begnini to see if he would be interested in becoming the star of Dogman and the answer he received was a very quick and definitive no. Garrone lucked out, because as good as Begnini is, he would have never been able to do what Marcello Fonte does in his film. The newcomer isn’t acting before the camera, he is the lonely loser.

In this lousy suburb everyone, even the petty thieves and drug pushers, is barely scraping by. But no one complains because it is absolutely pointless -- the city officials have stopped pretending that they care about the suburb while the people there have figured out that they truly are on their own.

Marcello (Fonte) has been trying to make ends meet by running a small dog grooming business, but it has been such a struggle that occasionally he has had to sell drugs on the streets. He has been careful and sold only to a few people that he trusts, but the area’s biggest bully, Simone (Edoardo Pesce), has found out and decided to get his favorite fix through him without paying. It is why Marcello is now in a tough spot -- he can’t say no to Simone, and he can’t get his fix on credit. When eventually the impatient Simone drags his ‘friend’ to a local supplier, tempers flare, and he simply takes away what he needs, and then the two quickly disappear into the thick shadows of the night. However, Marcello’s adventure with Simone does not end there. Only days after their successful visit to the drug supplier, the bully demands that Marcello allows him to use his tiny store to break into the adjacent pawn shop and empty its vault. If he does, half of the loot will go to Marcello, and he will finally be able to take his daughter on the exotic trip that the two have been researching for months.

The bully robs the pawn shop and Marcello ends up behind bars, assuming that eventually he will be properly rewarded for his silence. However, when Marcello eventually meets the bully again instead of money, he gives him a black eye and a bloody nose and then warns him to stay away from him. At first, the miserable Marcello decides to head back to his hole and restart his business, but then changes his mind and gathers the courage to offer the bully a new job -- a brilliant one that only he deserves.

The story has a few wonderful twists, but it is not what makes the film so engrossing. It is the newcomer, Fonte, whose performance is so captivating that it is utterly bizarre that before Garrone hired him he had been used only for a couple of tiny roles. He looks brittle in a way that is virtually impossible to imitate, and there are entire ranges of little things that he does, like the way in which he casually avoids trouble, that just keep one glued to the screen.

The tone and atmosphere of the film are also directly controlled by Fonte’s performance. Initially there is a whiff of light comedy that permeates it, but then he drops it and the story instantly becomes darker and more unsettling and the film moves in a different direction. Garrone only chooses the right locations and time of the day to capture Fonte as he continues to deal with his misery.

When all is said and done, one is left with the impression that for a short period of time Garrone was able to secretly preserve on film the existence of a loser who still lives on the outskirts of an unknown Italian city. A lot of the great classic neorealist films did the same thing -- they easily convinced that their characters were real people with authentic stories. Here, Garrone accomplishes the same but with a different equipment and in a contemporary setting.

There is a memorable sequence in which Marcello and Simone visit a busy striptease club, where two outstanding tracks are heard: Emmanuelle’s Italove and Bicep’s killer hit Glue.

Dogman Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Matteo Garrone's Dogman arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Curzon/Artificial Eye.

The technical presentation of this hugely atmospheric new film is very impressive. The overwhelming majority of the action takes place at night or in closed areas with restricted light, but there are fantastic ranges of nuances. Where there is an abundance of natural or artificial light, clarity, depth, and fluidity are predictably all-around excellent. The grading introduces different color fonts that are expertly balanced and supportive of the intended atmosphere, and the high-definition transfer reproduces their native qualities wonderfully well. Image stability is outstanding. All in all, this is yet another outstanding technical presentation of a recent film from the folks at Curzon/Artificial Eye. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Dogman Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Italian DTS0HD Master Audio 5.1 and Italian LPCM 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.

The original soundtrack incorporates plenty of organic sounds and noises, but there is also very stylish music and even a few ambient effects that allow the 5.1 track to impress in some rather surprising ways. I liked its fidelity and diverse dynamic range a lot. The dialog is very clear, stable, and easy to follow. The English translation is outstanding.

Dogman Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - an original theatrical trailer for Dogman. In Italian, with imposed English subtitles. (2 min).

• Deleted Scenes - a gallery of deleted scenes. In Italian, with optional English subtitles. (8 min).

• Q&A with Matteo Garrone and Marcello Fonte - in this filmed session, Matteo Garrone and the star of of his film address its production history, the casting process, the blending of comedy and violence, and future projects (including Pinocchio). In English and Italian, with a translator. (26 min).

• Storyboard - an original theatrical trailer for Dogman. In Italian, with imposed English subtitles. (2 min).

• Storyboards - without sound. (1 min).

Dogman Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It is time for the remaining few skeptics to turn off the lights and exit the debate room because Dogman makes what was so obvious for a long, long time indisputable now -- Matteo Garrone is a master director who has reintroduced and redefined neorealism in contemporary Italian cinema. If this man was working during the '50s and '60s he once again would have carved a niche for himself and dazzled with a spectacular style, and it would have been so easy to place him in the company of such greats as Carlo Lizzani, Antonio Pietrangeli, Steno, and Alberto Lattuada. Garrone's new film also presents to the world a spectacular new talent, Marcello Fonte, whose charisma I dare say is as irresistible as Alberto Sordi's. If you can play Region-B discs, I urge you not to waste any time and pick up Dogman for your collection as soon as you can because it will be one of the very best films that you see this year. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.