Empire Australia - 08.2019

35 AUGUST 2019

DOGMAN

HHHH

RATEDMA15+/29 AUGUST/103 MINS

DIRECTORMatteo Garrone

CASTMarcello Fonte, Edoardo Pesce,

Nunzia Schiano, Alida Baldari Calabria

There’s nowhere bleaker than the

seaside when the fun stops and it looks

a while since anyone enjoyed themselves

in the rundown setting for Matteo

Garrone’s brutally sad saga. Castel

Volturno also provided the backdrop to

The Embalmerand there are echoes of

that equally sobering story in this

unflinching and similarly fact-based

depiction of a naive nobody paying the

price for trying to be one particularly

undeserving man’s best friend.

Garrone will forever be known for

Gomorrahand he once again considers

the extent to which crime seeps into the

lives of ordinary people, as Marcello

Fonte places greater value on his

one-sided liaison with bruising loser

Edoardo Pesce than he does his bond

with the neighbours with whom he drinks

and plays five-a-side and his relationship

with nine-year-old daughter Alida Baldari

Calabria, with whom he goes scuba

diving and competes in dog shows. Even

though he deals a little coke, it’s hard to

think of a man less suited to crime. After

all, he climbs back into one burgled

house to rescue a yapping chihuahua

from the freezer.

But Fonte has that trusting simplicity

that prompted boorish strongman

Anthony Quinn to take cruel advantage

of Giulietta Masina in Federico Fellini’s

La Strada. Consequently, he remains

convinced that he can tame Pesce in the

same way he can pacify a snarling mutt.

But, even though this requires a degree

of delusional machismo (or the tough

love of Pesce’s no-nonsense mother,

Nunzia Schiano), it’s tough to buy Fonte’s

post-prison transformation when, feeling

betrayed for keeping shtum by Pesce

over the burglary that put him away, he

resolves to seek revenge. Nevertheless,

with Fonte and Pesce making a hideously

grotesque double act, this remains

a savagely compelling study of trust,

honour and folly.

Abetted by Nicolaj Brüel’s prowlingly

ominous camerawork and Dimitri

Capuani’s soul-destroying interiors,

Garrone proves once again that even the

lowest-rung southern Italian gangster

can’t afford a shred of human decency.

DAVID PARKINSON

VERDICTDeeply authentic and gritty,Danger

Close’s tight focus on the battle means it

sacrifices some depth and complexity, but it

remains a compelling account of one of the key

Australian engagements of the Vietnam War.

DANGER CLOSE: THE

BATTLE OF LONG TAN

DIRECTORKriv Stenders

CASTTravis Fimmel, Richard Roxburgh, Daniel

Webber, Luke Bracey, Nicholas Hamilton

PLOTVietnam, August 1966: Scouting for enemy

artillery positions, a small unit of Australian

soldiers find themselves surrounded and vastly

outnumbered by the North Vietnamese and

forced to fight a desperate holding action until

help can arrive.

OUT8 AUGUST

HHHH RATEDTBC/118 MINS

[FILM]

IT’S BEEN A long time between drinks when it

comes to the Australian experience of the

Vietnam War being depicted onscreen. While

the conflict has provided background colour for

a number of films over the years, we have to go

back 40 years to 1979’sThe Odd Angry Shotfor

a boots-on-the-ground look at the Vietnam. With

Danger Close, director Kriv Stenders and writer

Stuart Beattie correct that, delivering a gripping,

military thriller in the process.

Taking its cues from Ridley Scott’sBlack

Hawk Down,Danger Closeeschews lengthy set

up and scene-setting, dropping us into the action

and drama as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Major Harry Smith (Travis Fimmel) and his

men are sent into the field to locate enemy

mortar emplacements but find themselves

under heavy fire in the titular rubber plantation.

Reinforcements are delayed as Brigadier David

Jackson (Richard Roxburgh) fears sending in

more men will leave their home firebase

vulnerable to attack. Devastating and accurate

artillery fire keeps the enemy at bay, but ammo

dwindles, and casualties soon begin to stack up.

It’s incredibly nerve-shredding stuff and

cleaves closely to the established facts of the clash

(the project grew out of producer Martin Walsh’s

2006 documentary,The Battle of Long Tan, while

the real Harry Smith served as a consultant). It’s

impossible not to tense up in your seat as bullets

rip through trees and bite into leaf mulch, and

guns run hot in the face of human wave attacks.

Given the constrained nature of the

narrative, characterisation is understandably kept

to quick sketches and brief interactions, but

Stenders has assembled a game and capable cast

to do the heavy lifting, with Luke Bracey,

Stephen Peacocke, Myles Pollard, Mojean Aria,

Nicholas Hamilton, Lincoln Lewis, Travis Jeffery

and Aaron McGrath all forming part of the

ensemble – a veritable who’s who of up and

coming Australian acting talent.

Indeed, one thing that does stand out is how

Australian it all feels. After countless films

reflecting the specifically American experience of

the Vietnam War, it’s refreshing to see one where

the characters involved sound like us, act like us,

and reflect our cultural values and concerns, even

to the limited degree that the action of the

narrative affords. An interlude at a concert for

the diggers featuring Aussie ’60s singing stars

Col Joye and Little Patti reinforces this –

Danger Closeis not justPlatoonwith the

set dressing changed over.

Well, not generally – there are moments

when Stenders can’t help homage some of the

more prominent Vietnam films – a little

Apocalypse Nownod being the most obvious

• but for the most partDanger Closeis its own
  thing. More importantly, it’s our thing.TJ

Little did he know,

the Predator was behind him.

AUGUST 2019 35