Luc Besson’s new film
Caleb Landry Jones impresses in ‘DogMan’
Caleb Landry Jones stars in Luc Besson’s new film “DogMan.” photo
© Shanna Besson/Capelight Pictures/dpa
Fairy tales, crime thrillers, social drama. “DogMan”, the new film by cult director Luc Besson, is many things at the same time. There’s just one thing not: subtle. Anyone who gets involved will be rewarded with a great leading actor.
Some films later turn out to be the work that gave an actor his final breakthrough. For the American Caleb Landry Jones this could be “DogMan”. In the new film by Luc Besson, the 33-year-old is at his best in a multi-faceted, completely crazy role – in a film that is as strange as it is great.
To the plot
“DogMan” is a fairytale crime drama about an outsider named Doug who grew up in a cage with dogs. As an adult, he sits in a wheelchair, lives completely alone with a pack of dogs in an abandoned school, works as a criminal with the help of his animals and also performs as a drag artist.
A rather absurd narrative construction with which Luc Besson takes a risk. Especially because the former star director’s last films (“Léon – The Professional”) received rather mediocre reviews. And Besson has also faced a rape allegation in recent years. In 2023, France’s highest court closed the investigation.
His last film, which was not particularly well received, was released in 2019. To a certain extent, Besson had an obligation to prove himself. And he succeeded – even if “DogMan” will undoubtedly not suit everyone’s taste.
The initial constellation of the film: Doug is arrested after a series of crimes and questioned by a psychiatrist. Over the course of the film he tells her his life.
An actor who thrives in his role
Caleb Landry Jones is outstanding. His haunting performance as a dazzling outsider caught between madness and loss quickly earned him comparisons to Joaquin Phoenix in “Joker.”
You could watch him endlessly. How he removes his make-up after a drag performance and manages to smile, slightly demure. How he reads to his dogs wrapped in a wool blanket with a slightly shaky voice. How he screams from within in absolute despair after learning that his childhood sweetheart is expecting a child from someone else.
A versatile main character
Doug is many things at once. Loving and aggressive, lonely and at ease. As a child, he grew up in a brutal, poor family – the German actor Clemens Schick plays his violent father.
In addition to his dogs, he also gets along well with some neighbors as an adult. One day he lets his dogs intimidate a gangster because he is threatening a friend. This has bad consequences. The film is now increasingly developing from a social drama into a crime thriller with brutal scenes.
But the humor is not neglected. In scenes when Doug’s dogs help him with baking or his housebreaks – i.e. when they become the people Doug already sees them as – it seems as if “DogMan” is making a little fun of itself.
Not a subtle film
One scene in particular stands out. In his first drag performance, Doug heaves himself out of his wheelchair to lip-sync to Edith Piaf’s “La Foule” under the club’s dazzling lights. He says he can do the length of a song without a wheelchair. And in the following minutes, twitching and finally swaying to the beat, she creates a new identity.
Doug, who likes to quote Shakespeare, only feels at home in art. “DogMan” is not a subtle film, but rather celebrates the theatrical. You have to be able to get involved with that. And is rewarded with a dazzling piece of cinema.