Under the ominous gray skies amid the derelict remains of a seaside resort outside Naples, the scrawny Marcello (Marcello Fonte, Best Actor, Cannes Film Festival) is beloved, and sometimes pitied, for his day job as the local dog groomer. His innate skills as a dog whisperer serve him well when caring for local gangsters’ gargantuan pups, who often tower over him. Yet the biggest beast of all is local hothead Simoncino (Edoardo Pesce), whose insatiable desire for cocaine can only be tempered by Marcello’s meager supply. Despite the neighborhood’s protests, Marcello and Simoncino keep up an odd relationship that is tested when Marcello abets the tyrannical thug in an ill-planned robbery that could leave him imprisoned or, worse, dead. Fearing for his daughter’s safety and his own diminishing reputation among the tight-knit shop owners, Marcello must take matters into his own hands before the psychotic Simoncino upends everything he holds dear.

In competition for the FIPRESCI and Ricky Jay Magic of Cinema Awards.