Koirat eivät käytä housuja

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.

You sometimes hear people say things like 'film is dead '- and with all the straight to Netflix drivel that's out there, their argument could be made. This is the type of artwork that counters that debate and flat out obliterates it. Every frame of this movie communicates something beautiful. Every moment does the same. And that is to say, beauty in this case means a slice of life that is heightened and made all the more visceral and real. This is a true 'underdog' story...pardon the pun, but it's about someone who experiences the lowest of lows, and is smacked in the face (literally) with a second chance at love. This films shows that no, the world practically NEVER works out the way we want it, but if we are open to new things, we can not only survive, but also THRIVE. This movie made me cry tears of joy at the end. It's the weird love story that we need right now in this loony world.

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.

I had a hunch that the only criticism one might read about this movie is about the "BDSM culture" and how this movie fails to portray it. It's as much about BDSM culture as Lolita is about pedophilia - newsflash, it's not about it. It's also not a documentary. It's art. Chill out.

That being said. The movie is very minimal and I personally loved it. Almost every frame has a meaning and it's not a movie to casually eyeball over. The duet of Krista Kosonen and Pekka Strang is magnificent. Great film making and acting over here, I truly appreciate it.

So if you're interested in some nordic noir, some scandinavian weirdness, the poster and the name tickles you... give this film a chance.