</strong>Dogman

Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone directed the award-winning Gomorrah, an epic exploration of the corrosive effect of the Mafia in Naples. His Dogman is a much smaller and more intimate crime story set in a rundown seaside town in southern Italy that is being terrorized by a mad dog thug who bullies local businessmen without any opposition. Marcello Fonte stars as Marcello, a meek dog groomer who loves dogs, lives for his daughter, and deals cocaine on the side for extra money (which he spends on scuba diving trips with his kid). He's easily coerced by the hulking Simone (Edoardo Pesce) into giving him coke on demand and serving as wheelman on his petty robberies. There's a mix of humiliation and reflected glory in Marcello’s involuntary association with Simone—the little guy tagging along with the tough guy—but when Marcello takes the fall for a job he wanted no part of and is rebuffed when he demands his cut for serving a year in prison, he's finally pushed too far. Dogman is as much a tragic character study as it is a revenge drama, a portrait of a nice guy who won't stand up for himself and then comes back from prison hardened and unwilling to roll over anymore. But is there any redemption in revenge? Garrone sets his tale in a neglected neighborhood living in a culture of fear and apathy that is as discomforting as it is evocative. Fonte won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his heartbreaking performance. A powerful film, this is recommended. (S. Axmaker)