Luc Besson might be on the verge of a major comeback. After the big-budget flop Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and 2019’s hit-woman thriller Anna, the troubled French filmmaker is expected to be at Venice with the world premiere of his edge new drama, Dogman, starring Caleb Landry Jones.
A new trailer for the film suggests a tour de force performance by Jones, and a gritty, art house style we haven’t seen from Besson in ages. The story centers on Douglas, who had been abused as a child for his love of dogs, which he freely admits is greater than that for his family. Literally thrown to the dogs, they protected him rather than attacked him.
Later, we see that Douglas has reciprocated that love in kind…but for people? Not so much. What follows looks in some ways like the kind of assassin thriller you’d expect from the director of La Femme Nikita and The Professional. But as Douglas experiments with identity and dabbles around with gender, we see a character Besson has never tackled before.
Besson has long been among my favorite filmmakers as he basically defined my passion for this particular genre. I’m excited for this one and to see him score another hit, which would be his first since Lucy in 2014.
Dogman opens in France this September, and hopefully a U.S. date will soon follow.
Synopsis: The incredible story of a child, bruised by life, who will find his salvation through the love of his dogs.
