Although I hail from L. A., my heart will always be in CALI, COLOMBIA. I called this vibrant city "HOME" from May, 1985 until August, 2001. It is hard for me to imagine anyone who, like me, lived in CALI a long time, or who was born and raised there, not having a really clear & definitive visceral reaction to DOGWASHERS! ...If You are from New York City, or, like me, from L. A.... You have seen innumerable films with your hometown as a backdrop! CALI has appeared only in a handful.... Especially, as depicted in DOGWASHERS, where the Director undoubtedly was keenly aware of this reality and seemed to make a point of on-screen driving around to showcase different well-known CALI neighborhoods and principal thoroughfares.
Focusing on the movie itself: The characters are all portrayed in a manner that is starkly and utterly convincing! Although I must admit never having interacted with anyone similar to the lowlifes depicted in the film... They struck me as slice-of-life believable! Looking at the IMDb Profiles of the cast... Most of them apparently have never appeared in any other productions.... So, they could be classified as "AMATEURS"! Director Carlos Moreno has done an absolutely exquisite job coaxing(?) phenomanally natural performances out of the entire cast!... There is, in an oblique way, a touch of the CLASSICAL in DOGWASHERS, in the sense that, when you come right down to it...GREEK TRAGEDY, would be a fitting description! Probably, as so often is the case in films produced in a different language... Just about all of the subtle culture-clash nuances will be completely lost... But there is enough universality in DOGWASHERS... to make it highly enjoyable and well worth your time! 8********
Focusing on the movie itself: The characters are all portrayed in a manner that is starkly and utterly convincing! Although I must admit never having interacted with anyone similar to the lowlifes depicted in the film... They struck me as slice-of-life believable! Looking at the IMDb Profiles of the cast... Most of them apparently have never appeared in any other productions.... So, they could be classified as "AMATEURS"! Director Carlos Moreno has done an absolutely exquisite job coaxing(?) phenomanally natural performances out of the entire cast!... There is, in an oblique way, a touch of the CLASSICAL in DOGWASHERS, in the sense that, when you come right down to it...GREEK TRAGEDY, would be a fitting description! Probably, as so often is the case in films produced in a different language... Just about all of the subtle culture-clash nuances will be completely lost... But there is enough universality in DOGWASHERS... to make it highly enjoyable and well worth your time! 8********