"A Dog That Had a Lot of Stress in His Life": Dog Trainer Massimo Perla on Dogman

Matteo Garrone's Dogman, a deceptively simple story of a professional dogsitter's attempt to achieve recognition among gangsters in a small Italian town, reminds me of the great "art-house" films I watched when I was a teenager: The Magician, La Strada, Bicycle Thief, Black Orpheus. A spare story grows and builds and pushes itself until it swells to the bursting point and then: suspension. Viewers are forced to meditate on what they have watched, as all of the mini-scenarios that have built it g...