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Dogman
France 2023
produced by Virginie Besson-Silla for Kinology, EuropaCorp, TF1, Canal+, TMC
directed by Luc Besson
starring Caleb Landry Jones, Jojo T. Gibbs, Christopher Denham, Clemens Schick, John Charles Aguilar, Grace Palma, Iris Bry, Marisa Berenson, Lincoln Powell, Alexander Settineri, Michael Garza, Bianca Melgar, C.C. DeNeira, Joe Sheridan, Emeric Bernard-Jones, Kyran Peet, Cameron Alexander, Jérémy Finet, Tom Leeb, Eric Carter, Jeff Mantel, Naima Hebrail Kidjo, Thierry Quéré, Tom Hudson, Pierre-Edouard Bellanca, Avant Strangel, James Payton, Adam Speers, Laetitia Mampaka, Rudy Mukendi, Alioune Sane, Charles Gray, Jarreth J. Merz, Bennett Saltzman, Corinne Delacour, Gabriel Pepe, Derek Siow, Stephane Moreno-Carpio, Tonio Descanvelle, Nathanaël Beausivoir, Hedi Bouchenafa, Roméo De Lacour, Mael Fagla Medegan, Willy Cartier, Meledeen Yacoubi, Hatik, Luing Andrews, Michael Magnet, Angel Puna Quispe, Claire Lang, Ryan Cortelyou, Alex Knezevic, Gavin Cranmer, Joseph Latimore, Jeremiah Figuereo, Yvette Mercedes, Jimmy Palumbo, Ambrit Millhouse (voice), Natalie Woodard (voice)
written by Luc Besson, music by Éric Serra
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Doug's father (Clemens Schick) used to train dogs for dog fights, so it
was much to his dismay that his son Doug (played ba Lincoln Powell as a
teenager, Caleb Landry Jones as an adult) would befriend the dogs - so
much so that he eventually would throw young Doug into the dog cage and
keep him there for years. It's only when daddy gets so angry at Doug he
takes a gunshot at him that severs his finger that Doug sees a way to
escape - by sending one of his dogs to the next police car carrying the
finger. Doug is freed, though paralyzed as dad's gunshot has also injured
his spine, while dad's thrown into jail where he would ultimately kill
himself. However, now Doug's sent from one orphanage to the next, and
other than a fling with his acting teacher (Grace Palma) has little to
show for it. But eventually he finds a job with a dog shelter and proves
himself great with dogs. So when the shelter closes down, he just opens up
one of his own, accepting a job as drag performer as a side gig - and
doing well at that, too. And as his ability to communicate with dogs is
just incredible, he soon has them pull of heists for him, stealing jewelry
from the rich, or as he puts it, "redistributing the wealth."
Thing is, doing things Doug's way, one makes enemies eventually, be it
insurance detective Ackerman (Christopher Denham) or crime kingpin El
Verdugo (John Charles Aguilar), and eventually, things get dangerous for
Doug despite commanding a dog army ... Now this is a
well-conceived, well-shot and well-acted movie, no doubt about that - but
it's also an utter mess: Narratively it seems like Besson has just thrown
random story elements onto the blank screen to go with what stuck, no
matter if the elements fit. This then seriously hurts narrative stringency
as the film seems to just clumily hop around between its narrative
threads, many of which go nowhere. And what doesn't make things any easier
or smoother is the film's utter lack of subtlety. Everything's just there,
everything's loud, there's clearly distinctive good and evil (even if
"good"'s perspective might be slightly off), and there are never
any questions asked. In other words, and I repeat myself here, a mess -
albeit a well-made one.
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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Robots and rats,
demons and potholes, cuddly toys and shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill Your Bones to is all of that.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to -
a collection of short stories and mini-plays ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle,
all thought up by the twisted mind of screenwriter and film reviewer Michael Haberfelner.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to
the new anthology by Michael Haberfelner
Out now from Amazon!!! |
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