We witnessed a bridge with Italian cinemaʼs past with the pair of comp offerings in Cannes last year. Along with Happy as Lazarro, there are definite strands to Italian Neorealism found in Matteo Garroneʼs Dogman. A four person mounted screenplay, the central character here both figuratively and symbolically, addresses the monkey on the back. The puppy eyed protagonist is played by Marcello Fonte (who once had an uncredited part in Scorsese’s Gangs of New York, who directed his feature debut Asino vola and ended up showcasing it in Locarno back in 2015 , and has a string of important film roles with Corpo Celeste, Dogman (for which he won Bet Actor in Cannes) and has reteamed with Garrone for Pinocchio. I met with actor Marcello Fonte at TIFF and discussed his working relationship with the filmmaker, his character in a laid back and jovial manner as you can see here. Magnolia Pictures release the film today.
Interview: Marcello Fonte – Dogman
Eric Lavalléehttps://www.ericlavallee.com
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist, and critic at IONCINEMA.com, established in 2000. A regular at Sundance, Cannes, and Venice, Eric holds a BFA in film studies from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013, he served on the narrative competition jury at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson’s "This Teacher" (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022, he was a New Flesh Juror for Best First Feature at the Fantasia International Film Festival. His top films for 2023 include The Zone of Interest (Glazer), Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (Pham Thien An), Totem (Lila Avilés), La Chimera (Alice Rohrwacher), All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (Raven Jackson). He is a Golden Globes Voter.
