Koirat eivät käytä housuja

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!

There's a moment in your past that has affected, the way you interface and stay connected, and it's taken quite a tangent, it involves a bottle of scent, but that's what makes you stand tall, fully erected. It starts with replication of that moment, when your world turned upside down with flooded torment, and you've found another soul, she is the south to your north pole, you couldn't hope for a more invested, proponent. But the path to your salvation is not easy, and it may make the odd folk a little queasy, it might take your breath away, there may be plier-work at play, and to some, it may be thought of as, quite sleazy.

Those who think that this movie is about sex or fetishes they are wrong. It is about loss and coping with loss. People in general deal with loss in different ways. Some start to drink, some start to take drugs, some start to harm themselves and some get into kink and sadomaso world. It is a way to deal with your feelings and pain. Go see this movie with an open mind and heart.

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.