DOGS DON’T WEAR PANTS: 7 Critical Questions [movie review]

Genre — dark (romantic) comedy drama
Cast — Pekka Strang (from Tom of Finland), Krista Kosonen (the Finn in Blade Runner 2049)
Director — J-P Valkeapää
Budget — 1 400 000 EUR

1. What’s the story?
A middle aged widower, who has lost his wife in a traumatic accident, ends up dealing with his buried emotional challenges by developing an addiction to sadomasochistic practices. It’s a peculiar and painful story of healing. Healing through pain.

2. What’s special about the film?
The way in which it approaches grief, trauma and loneliness through the world of BDSM, which is used as a vehicle for emotional development of the main character Juha — an quiet and hardworking heart surgeon. Also, the movie mixes different tones (comedy, drama) rather well. And so, the well known and exploited trauma narrative feels fresh and effective. The performances by Strang and Kosonen who plays the mysterious and exploring dominatrix Mona make the pain that Juha feels so, so uncomfortably real.