Review Rough Drafts (Letterboxd)/Dogs Don't Wear Pants (2019)

I just thought that was beautiful, sad, tragic, and quite an emotional wallop. I thought Kosonen's work in not just that scene above is outstanding, her reaction to Strang's Juha on the dance floor of the club, just drunk, elated, blissfully smiling, while jyrating as best he can among all the leathered, chained, half (or in some cases fully) naked S&M patrons, is equally as wonderful. You just see Mona realizing that her "dog" is fully healed, no longer wanting to die, no longer consumed with retreating from current misery to see his wife when being strangled and nearly dying. I also want to mention Huhta as Juha's daughter, Elli, really worried about her dad; but, not only that, she wants him actually in her life, not departing from it. I guess as low as Juha sinks is when he asks Elli's teacher to wear his dead wife's perfume and "take her place".

Easily the toughest scene for me is the tooth-pulling pain inflicted by Mona in an exchange to be suffocated again, and the rotting fingernail removal because both icky moments are lengthy.

I thought Kosonen was a revelation as Mona. What a poster of her for the film, and when she first emerges, pinning down Strang with a riding crop as he eventually releases, she immediately makes an impression.

I like how the film does let us see Mona outside the dominatrix, out of her "punishment chamber", cloaked in dark red. She is stunning, with her shoulder-length hair sort of stringing into her face, but there is this melancholia that appears to be lifting when Juha makes an effort to pursue that one final strangulation. This relationship dynamic is fascinating to watch develop. Seeing Mona's toughness "slip" and there is this brief little slap by Juha that seems to awaken her...what a unique look at a subculture often frowned upon.

Hmm, my favorite scene...

Juha "comes out" of his near death revisit to his wife, Mona's face "un-blurs", and he affectionately caresses her face, with Mona reacting startled by it