Film Name: 狗神 / DogMan
It’s not easy to find a DogMan at the right time, I went out last night in cold and wet weather and at one point took a wrong turn and finally unlocked a new cinema …… Fortunately, it was all worth it.
Being able to enjoy a good looking and excellent film is the biggest reward of all.
To be fair, DogMan may not stand out when compared to the films of director Luc Besson in his prime or those outstanding works in history, but at a time when narratives are becoming more and more overwhelming and characters are becoming more and more de-centred, this entirely character-driven film is a breath of fresh air, with a solid foundation, a complete story, a full-bodied mood, and contributing a living, breathing, dingo-like protagonist who blossoms freely and lives and dies as he pleases.
Douglas is a unique man on the fringe, but the simplicity, honesty, and purity he possesses has something for all of us.
[Friendly reminder: there will be spoilers below].
First of all, we have to get rid of a few biased impressions – ‘thanks to’ this year’s cinema film publicity more and more love of simple and crude and large print inertia, ‘DogMan’ poster also played on the ‘human and dog group high-energy war! ‘and’ the end of the year sin cool not crazy not live “and some pointing materials and introduction, many people will think that this is a super British film, crime film, revenge film, or “Joker’ style character film, but in fact, none of them are.
The main theme of DogMan is to tell and shape the protagonist Douglas, to explain the qualities and coexistence of the three attributes of dog, man and god in him, and the so-called supernatural ability, crime and other superficial elements are all for the service of this theme.
The film takes a very traditional overall flashback plus flashback technique, through the forensic doctor Evelyn and Douglas’s conversation, slowly the other side of the bizarre life spread out …… I have to say, can make such a simple and unadorned narrative so fascinating, Luc Besson’s choreography foundation is really too solid and hard.
One of the first things that convinced me about DogMan was the image of the dog in the film:
Unlike too many previous ‘dog films’ that try to make dogs look pretty and cute, Douglas’s children in DogMan are really a bunch of unkempt wild dogs, except for a few (such as corgis) that look like they were abandoned recently, most of them are scruffy and shaggy, even the most ‘impressive’ one. Even the most ‘impressive’ Doberman is dwarfed by the two shiny Dobermans in the noblewoman’s house.
With that alone, the narrative foundation of DogMan is already established, and Douglas, who leads the pack, is just another wild dog who can’t be a family dog.
I found that Douglas’s upbringing by the standards of a wild dog makes sense: put in a dog cage by a father who knows nothing of love but violence, living off scraps of food and fashion magazines, rescued from his injuries and admitted to an orphanage, changing cage after cage, of course he longs for the warmth and normality of a normal human life, but when he realises that it is impossible for him to be with Salma, whom he adores, he retires to the streets and the streets. streets and alleys.
Douglas is sufficiently animalistic in his approach to ‘pain’, for example, as wild dogs tend to seldom bark; they lick their wounds in silence and wait for them to heal, and then they are ruthless in their revenge or survival efforts.
Older friends who have lived in the countryside should know that ‘dogs can’t be in packs’, because this will stimulate their primitive wild nature, and begin to roam the countryside and even injure people, and need to be eliminated in a timely manner – the dogs in the film didn’t go down this road because The dogs in the film don’t go down this path because their ‘king’ also knows human nature.
Douglas’s first label is certainly a wild dog, but he is, after all, an educated, civilised human being, he will lead the dogs to adapt to the rules of this society, to prevent them from overreaching and inviting destruction; but in the case of the loss of government grants, the daily income is difficult to sustain, Douglas will let the dogs sneak into the homes of the rich to steal to the distribution of wealth.
Douglas all the crime is to survive, kill all out of self-defence, and he does not care about the stolen property, as long as the money is enough to maintain life on the line, at the same time, he is very good to those close to him, most of the jewels are given to the singers who can play a role in the jewels, but also for the laundromat Mrs. to stand up for the gangs at the expense of the gangs.
So DogMan takes on an interesting air of survival first, love and hate, no selfishness, unconditional truthfulness and purity, a dog’s nature that knows no good or evil, no good or bad luck, and a human nature that is both ratty and sublime.
Speaking of which, I must praise the film’s music and soundtrack, really too spot on, take two more familiar tunes as an example.
One song is ‘Sweet Dreams,’ which accompanies a scene in which Douglas goes out to look for a job and is repeatedly rejected, but the theme scene is a drag club, and it’s not hard to notice that the rehearsal singers were dressed in the same way as in the Eurythmics’ original video for 1983’s ‘Sweet Dreams,’ and the clear rhythms of the song match its lyrics, which highlight Douglas’s searching and confusion, as well as his forward movement in the midst of chilling and realisation, and ultimately lead him to the end. search and confusion, as well as the forward movement through the chills and realisations that eventually lead to his end, can be mirrored.
Another famous French song is ‘Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien’. At the end of the song, after Douglas got out of the trap with the help of the dog, he stood up again in full costume and walked out of the police station to the church step by step, and the long melody is matched with the lyrics of the song which literally says ‘No, I have no regrets’, and the meaning of Douglas’ unrepentance is strong. Douglas’ sense of remorselessness in life, whether in life or in death, is also strongly expressed.
These two tunes are regulars on film soundtracks, but in the past they were remembered more for their own good sound and character, while DogMan further achieves a sublimation of the fusion of sound and picture and narrative theme, which is obviously much more gripping and refreshing.
As for the rest of the tunes, such as the more specialised tunes like ‘La Foule’ that Douglas sang on stage, I can’t say much more than that, except to say that I felt alive and free.
Douglas’s singing career at this club is a way for his under-attractive, disabled mutt to find a place to piss and mark his scent, but it’s also a way for him to forget who he is and to feel simply good, and in that way, the essence of a singing act, or a drag queen, is the same.
Even the characterisation of Douglas as a disabled and paralysed man is full of dramatic poetry: the day he was shot by his father was the beginning of his new life and the beginning of his end, and the bullet fragments in his spine that made Douglas get up and ‘every step I took was a step towards my death’ made his daily routine naturally tragic. This gives his daily routine a naturally tragic quality.
The two longest walks Douglas took in the film, one to fight back against the gangsters invading his territory, which he described as meeting his own ‘angel of death’, and the other to walk to the church, where he fell to the ground in front of the sunlight and the cross, and died surrounded by dogs, were like the final curtain of a Shakespearean play. The scene was like the final curtain of a Shakespearean play, where the actors have given a perfect performance with all their strength, and in return the audience applauds and praises that will last forever.
Finally, let’s take this opportunity to say a few more words about the divinity in DogMan.
Douglas seems to not believe in God, but in fact is a devout believer, but unlike his father’s brother’s pedantic, timid, violent, cowardly superficial believers, Douglas has his own set of interpretations, which makes me think of the ‘justification by faith’ that emphasises that the barriers between God and man have been eliminated, and that the believer can communicate directly with God by faith, as well as the barbaric and vitality of Protestantism in history. and the savage yet exuberant vitality of historic Protestantism.
DogMan has been transforming and integrating the three identities of dog, human and God, and human is the indispensable medium between dog and God. …… Therefore, DogMan has been translated as ‘Dog God’, which, although it sounds a bit senseless, will give you an unexpected distorted feeling after watching the film. Although it may sound a bit confusing, after seeing the film, you will feel the essence of an unexpected distortion.
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