Cannes 2016. A Possible Palme Dog?

     The Chief International Film Critic of the “Variety” magazine doesn`t joke when expressing his opinion that Bogdan Mirică`s film might be the strongest candidate for the unofficial Palme Dog Award, which honors the best canine performance, offered - as seriously as possible - by a group of critics. The winner from last year, Kornel Mundruczo`s White God, had a beautiful career afterwards. Peter Debruge doesn`t minimize the qualities of the film, viewed in its main lines, with “its bleak vision of evil lurking in the Romanian hinterlands, where it reveals that men are no better than animals”.
     The “Hollywood Reporter” critic, Boyd van Hoeij, finds the film having a strong visual character, which gives it the feel of “a more of a mood piece than a fully coherent narrative” one. I started with these quotes because I thought I found in them what maybe we and the author wanted – first and foremost, its placing into the realm of searching a stylistic way.
     I find the connection that Mathieu Macheret (in“Le Monde”) makes, and the way he considers that the dead man`s severed foot might be “a sign of the wastage of some social mafia structures in the post-communist Romania” quite nonsensical. What is truly obvious about this feature debut is the search for style, which can be identified in the very controlled settling in the space, in the strangeness of the relationships between the characters, from the second they step into the frame, at carefully measured paces.
     Roman (Dragoș  Bucur), the heir of a vast piece of land inherited from his grandfather - in conditions that were not too honorable - finds himself in a place that seems haunted, where signs of some suspect deaths appear and where a newcomer may easily disappear without a trace. Anxiety is everywhere. At night, the new owner is forced to stay awake and during the day, he tries to solve the mystery of the very few people who come his way. In the press kit, the filmmaker insists upon his obsession for trying to understand the dark sides of the human nature.
     “The heroes from Dogs have a certain feature for me. They know their profound nature is corrupt and that they cannot do anything to change it. In life, sometimes you happen to be aware of engaging on a mistaken path and still you don`t do anything to correct that. It`s exactly what happens to my protagonists. Rationally, they know their contradictions, but that doesn`t help them at all. They choose to continue to be what they are deep down. The film is the story of three men who, despite the appearances, are very much alike. The only thing they do is to confront each other. The true battle is the one with themselves.”
     Even if the filmmakers` statement is somewhat foggy, the construction from the screen gives away the feel of restlessness and of danger. And there is no need for the “pigment” borrowed from Tarantino or the Cohen brothers in the extremely well made scene of the careful examination of the dead man`s foot from the pond; The procedure is made by the cop (Gheorghe Visu) with such an nerve-racking carefulness that feels pretty close to the paradoxically comic startle when watching horror films.
It is enough for the smiling brute - played by Vlad Ivanov, with a chilling relaxation – to ask for a glass of water and the death sentence is signed. We`ll see what happens next. I only want to add that the president of the jury of the Un Certain Regard section is the delicate actress Marthe Keller. One thing is certain: Bogdan Mirică is part of the “classical presence of Romania in Cannes.”, as the general delegate Thierry Frémaux mentioned before inviting the director on stage.