Dogs Don't Wear Pants

...came back having all my expectations subverted. No, this movie is NOT just about sex or bdsm, it does have a decent story behind it. It's about Juha, dealing with the loss of his wife and getting into the kink world in the process. The story does lack depth and I was a bit disapointed that Mona's story wasn't explored more. I was surprised how visual the movie was and how little dialogue this had, it was a nice touch. And can I say how great the actors were in this? The performances of the two leads were absolutely stellar! Go in with an open mind.

Finnish movies aren't very well received abroad. One can think of a reason of them being too ordinary. This film is anything but ordinary by Finnish standards and it had hard time getting funding from the film commission.

The main character suffers a great loss and desperately wants to keep his lost loved one close to him.

Story is intriguing but the film itself lacks depth. I'd have enjoyed it a lot more if the characters had been more developed and more time, like first twenty minutes would have been used to tell the family's story before the unfortunate accident. Now bypassing briefly and leaving the background story and suffering to the behind, the film subsides into being just a numbing showcase of Bdsm fetishes. I found myself laughing at it many times and it was very entertaining but not in the way the creators intended it to be.

It's certainly not a film to everyone's taste and it's not a masterpiece either. It's a shame that it's so mediocre because it could have been something.

Hard hitting at times and at other times utterly hilarious. Dialogue was kept quite minimal which I enjoyed considering it was subtitled, but this just highlighted how good the camera work was. Please go and watch thus movie!

Dogs Don't Wear Pants (Finland, J.P. Valkeapaa, 2019) - "It is by going down into the abyss," said Joseph Campbell "that we recover the treasures of life."

A surgeon, Juha, sinks into depression after his wife drowns. Neglecting his job, daughter and health, Juha is breaking down. When he stumbles into the orbit of Mona, a dominatrix, she becomes an obsession for him. Through her there are flashbacks to moments with his wife. Juha cannot get enough. Mona too is infatuated. Here is someone impervious to her charms. As they push each other deeper, someone has got to blink.

The radiance of Dogs Don't Wear Pants is the focus on the characters of both Mona and Juha, not one or the other. Also, it is deep and enlightening in ways I did not expect. There is no simple formula and no one has sold out to "the man." The film is liberating, cathartic. "You are alive after all," says a friend to Juha. So are all who witness and appreciate this little gem. Streaming on Shudder. Four and a half of five stars.

Great movie for the connoisseur of the unusual and odd. If the story sounds interesting and appealing to you - watch, if not, do not bother. Anyway, I enjoyed watching Dogs Don't Wear Pants a lot - remarkable and strong are the performances by Pekka Strang and Krista Kosonen - without that fine acting, the story would look awkward, ridiculous and just fall apart.

Final words: in these times, where card-box characters and stories flood our screens en masse, an indeed exceptional delicious piece - if you like something different to watch.