The will to assert the self or to overcome seemingly staggering obstacles are the driving forces behind the men at the center of what are essentially two survival stories, told from two very different thematic points of view in Matteo Garrone's Dogman and Joe Penna's Arctic. Dogman by Garrone - best known for turning a spotlight on Italy's disenfranchised and the darker side of human nature - pits two men against each other, focusing on the lengths the hero will go to in order to find his soul. Arctic's Joe Penna, meanwhile, is a YouTube wunderkind making his debut feature - a stripped down, bare-bones survival epic that forces a man to dig deep into his inner reserves of mental and physical strength while stranded in, well, the Arctic. Anyone with Avengers fatigue need look no further for refreshing, thoughtful alternatives to the perfect specimens of the superhero franchise.

Tapping the same oppressive, criminal world he so masterfully built in his mob thriller Gomorrah, Garrone tones down the explicit violence for a white-knuckle morality play that's every bit as gripping. In the depressed outskirts of gritty, grimy Naples, sweet-natured dog groomer Marcello (Marcello Fonte) finds himself tempted by the payoff of petty crime suggested by local thug Simone (Edoardo Pesce), which leads him down a horrifying rabbit hole he struggles to get out of.

Ultimately the film ponders what it is that attracts good people to do bad things, and neatly crystallizes Garrone's entire body of work to date, one that also looks at the interlocking issues of poverty, lack of opportunity, ignorance and selfishness. Garrone injects his signature brand of cynical humor into the script, which Fonte, with his weary hangdog expression, and Pesce, tearing it up in a meticulously manic performance, deliver with aplomb, giving the story its broken-down humanity.

In Arctic, an unidentified man, (Mads Mikkelsen), is alone in a wintry prison when he's involved with two plane crashes: the first leaves him stranded and the second is a rescue helicopter that crashes in a storm. When he finds one of the co-pilots injured and unconscious but alive in the wreck, he makes the decision to leave the relative safety of his makeshift camp and drag her hundreds of kilometers across the frozen tundra to the potential salvation of a ranger station. If it's open. And if he can dodge polar bears (in a harrowing scene that puts The Revenant to shame).

With virtually zero dialogue and no significant characters to play off, Mikkelsen once again proves he's one of cinema's most underrated and expressive actors, making every mundane repetition of his rescue plan and every rationed meal feel like this might be the last.

Unlike Dogman, Arctic is spare and sparse, with only the brutal landscape (gorgeously shot in widescreen by Tmas rn Tmasson) to fill the void. Most of the time the "story" is quiet and contemplative, begging us to wonder what is it that motivates this man's every move, yet cleverly never answering the questions. What makes Marcello and the man in Arctic tick? Who knows, and in reality we probably don't want to.

(HK Edition 05/10/2019 page10)