D'Agostino

Jorge Ameer is a polarizing filmmaker. No doubt about that. It is obvious in the score above. Either way, he is one filmmaker filled with some very interesting ideas worthy of attention. As for D'Agostino, .I've never seen anything like this film before and I watch a lot of movies. However, in my personal opinion, to discover D'Agostino, you really have to pay attention to the details. The clue to unraveling this drama, thriller, sci fi is to study the characters actions as they engage. As they say "the proof is in the pudding." This is one of those films that either you get it or your don't. I notice the score for the film is low, yet when I looked at the demographic, it seems like men respond better to this film. Maybe I'm male inside, who knows (lol)... but I liked it. Getting this film, means paying close attention. There is a lot going on here. There is the obvious, then the stuff beneath the surface that is eating away at the main character. Allan Dawson, a very hot and handsome Keith Roenke, is a man on the edge. On the edge to a break down as people have driven him to his wits ends. His home life isn't any better. Fertility problems and a nagging fiancé is the perfect formula to shove Allan to the breaking point with disastrous consequences. Then comes an outlet, Allan must go to Greece to take possession of property left by his grandmother.

He arrives and realizes, he's by himself and a new sense of freedom takes over him. Enters D'agostino into his self-discovery and things now seem to go his way. Figuring he's been pushed around for a long time, he sees D'Agostino as an outlet to mold his new clone friend and return the wrongs done to him. The film unfolds in a progressively dark manner until things get really ugly. On one hand you wonder how a man has been driven to the brink of madness in such a way he would choose to do the things he does with D'Agostino (don't worry I won't give it away). The answer is when life and society has been too overwhelming for him, it't time to take action. Time to settle the score. That is the underbelly of this film. It's got many things rooting for it and one of them are the many hidden messages...It's a if the filmmaker were trying to tell us many things at once right beneath the obvious. It's a film which merits at least one more watch.

The Allan character has been put to together with such detail that once he meets D'Agostino, he seems to have found his automatic pilot where all the awful things he does seem to come naturally to him.

This is a multi genre film with many messages both good and bad. It question personal morals as well as values. D'Agostino seeks to defy the commonality of normalcy. It is a condemnation of how people live and how they treat other, specially our valuable possessions may it be human or not. It is a case study worthy of much debate. The story also seems to take place in some futuristic version of reality. It could very well take place ten to twenty years from now, yet the situations in the film remain relevant to today's happenings. It's about the results of what we choose to do and D'Agostino is a clear example of what happens when you are so lost in your own world that you loose focus of what's appropriate and what crosses the line. There is no morality in D'Agostino. At least not with the Allan character. He seems to live in his head, and for him, there is no line. His actions does keep you thinking about the many things he could have done differently had he conformed to society's expectations. For one, I would have called the cops to report this "missing person". But again, if you did, there would be not story, or at least not the way it is set up for interpretation. There are many profound messages regarding our reason to be, how we treat each other, and where we are headed as people having to deal with each other in a changing world. There is also cause & effect happening here...lots of it. Yet, by the end of the film and its shocking conclusion it becomes clear... if you mess with nature, nature messes back and will always wins. While I was watching the film, you can't help to wonder if we are the victims of what we know to be true, a trait learned from our forefathers, or the culprits for what we instill onto our future generations and/or our young. After thinking about this film long after watching it, I couldn't help to wonder about filmmaker Jorge Ameer's intention... was to dragged us through this very strange multi-layered odyssey through the dark bowels of human nature or show us how screwed up we have become as a society or maybe how our priorities have become progressively skewed by greed and the need for personal fulfillment. For those reasons, I am still thinking about D'Agostino. I give the film a 8.7/10 for it's complexity of story, originality and for its breathtakingly beautiful scenery.

"D'Agostino" A Very Strange Engrossing Film Amos Lassen I had just finished watching Jorge Ameer's newest film and honestly I did not know what to think about it except that it had totally pulled me in. So I played in a second time and found myself completely absorbed by it. It is quite basically a tale of horror which later becomes something else altogether so I suppose I have to say it is macabre to a point but it is so much more than that. Allen Dawson inherited an apartment in Santorini, Greece. He learned that his grandmother willed it to him but he had to go to Greece to take care of the property transfer. He discovers a human clone in the apartment and decides that it or D'Agostino (who he nicknames Diablo) is to become his new best friend even though the only human quality that the clone possesses is his appearance.

We learn that the clone had been on a transatlantic voyage from Italy to America when there was a crash and he had been left for dead. He had been commissioned by men with wealth and was to be used for organ transplants but he had been abandoned. In the meantime, Dawson learns of his inheritance and leaves his home which he had been sharing with his girlfriend and goes to Santorini where he finds the abandoned clone. Through Diablo, Dawson comes to learn more about himself as he decides to make the clone his best friend. Dawson also realizes that his relationship with his fiancée is a sham and that it is going nowhere and he is bored with and upset that he gets nothing out of it. He realizes that he is trapped in a sedentary existence and that his prospects for future happiness do not look good so when he receives news of the inheritance he knows that he has a chance to get away from his him-drum life and travels to Greece alone. He understands that his life has been little more than an obstruction but he is also not quite ready to deal with what he finds. He quickly sees that with his new property his outlook on life changes and then changes once again when he meets D'Agostino.

At first Dawson s befuddled by the clone and has no idea of how to deal with him but as the two interact we see that his state of mind becomes quite strange and he becomes both ruthless and cruel but as he gets to know the clone, we watch him become victim to his own moral perversion which later creates a reaction that causes him to fall victim to his actions. How and what that is will be something for you to discover when you see the film and regardless of what I say, there is no way to prepare the viewer for what he sees.

The version I was an unedited screener but I could still tell that the cinematography was beautiful and Greece of course leads itself to creating beauty on the screen. Yet when the film is dark, it is very dark. Hats off to the actors who play Dawson and the clone and to Ameer himself in his performance as the man who has been watching the property. I cannot say that this is a film I enjoyed but I can say that it is well done. Enjoy just does not seem the right word to describe it. If you get the chance to see this film, do not hesitate.

The films of Jorge Ameer always entertain. They're not always good, but they always entertain. His early feature THE SINGING FOREST (2003)was notable for a reincarnation plot involving Nazi concentration camp victims, featuring well-fed prisoners and very uneven, hand-drawn Swastikas on armbands. In the supernatural drama THE HOUSE OF ADAM (2006), the characters freak out if a front door unexpectedly swings open but remain calm and collected when encountering a man tied to a chair for torture.

In D'AGOSTINO, Ameer raises the bar very high. Dissatisfied American yuppie Allan Dawson (Keith Roenke) lives with his fiancé Sylvia (Torie Tyson) in London. She is quite a bit older than he, which may explain his sudden outburst heard at the film's beginning – "What do fat and ugly people think they look like?" Things are mundane and boring until Sylvia says, "Your grandmother left you some property." Did his grandmother die? She doesn't say. "Your grandmother left you some property in Greece." So Allan jets over to Greece. The "property" is a very nice candle-lit apartment. Allan takes some time to sight-see, and then returns to the apartment that night. Looking behind a heavy oaken door, Alan discovers a disgusting human male (Michael Angels) covered in feces tied up in a tiled room. Slamming the door behind him, Allan takes a hot shower … goes back to sleep … wakes up the next day … does some more sight-seeing … has some lunch … Yes, none of it makes any sense, but perhaps it's not supposed to. Allan doesn't TELL anyone about the horror lurking in his apartment, in what amounts to a twisted agenda. Later that night, Allan showers his new-found friend off, notes a dog collar that lists his name as D'Agostino and checks his trusty laptop. "I see that you're a secret clone bred for organ harvesting," the smug Allan says – as if this would be posted online – from a dog tag that has no URL address. The barking, yelping D'Agostino has the mentality of a newborn baby trapped in the body of a young man, and Allan seizes the opportunity to put him on a leash and teach him a few, uh, "tricks." It's exactly what you think it is.

Very little, other than nonstop mental and sexual degradation of the title character continues for the rest of D'AGOSTINO's two-plus hour running time. Other than a pushy landlord (played by director Ameer himself) seems to interrupt the two mens' sadistic idyll. The viewer continues to watch the film as if to ask themselves, "why am I watching this?" Why ineptly told, D'AGOSTINO hammers home a classic fable of all the horrible things that happen when a human being considers another human being as being less than such.

It falls apart at the end when D'Agostino symbolically eats from "the tree of knowledge," i.e. Allan's laptop for an ending straight out of an EC horror comic book. Allan gets his comeuppance, but its not what the ending COULD have been.

D'AGOSTINO calls to mind such favorites as SALO: 120 DAYS OF SODOM (1975). It also recalls, with its minimal cast, single setting, Greek locale and sadomasochistic games the cult favorite SINGAPORE SLING (1991) and art house favorite DOGTOOTH (2009). In either case, D'AGOSTINO is the rare kind of movie that I wholeheartedly recommend to everyone – knowing full well that lots of them will ABSOLUTELY hate it. See it – it's not a good film, but remains a highly unique viewing experience.

I struggled to even give this move a 4. The basic story is intriguing, thought provoking and interesting, I will grant you that. But the movie was so poorly done!! the plot was completely disjointed as was the acting. Endless (it seemed) dead scenes of sites around Santorini etc. beautiful as it must be. The main character finds a filthy naked man in his grandmother's apartment. After the initial shock and shower then just goes back to bed and sleep. Like seriously? He easily finds out the origin of the naked man on the internet???? what on Google? He then just treats the man like a pet dog He doesn't seem to be the least bit concerned as to how diago got there behind the locked oak door. The whole move movie as it 'developed' was too bizarre. I have to say I was disappointed. The plot and story premise had such potential. the whole social, ethical question around human cloning, owning another human as a pet, the issue of cruelty/sadism but I think it failed.

Writer/director Jorge Ameer continues to make fascinating little films that dare to go where few others even contemplate. Asked to review the Unedited Proof of a film is both exciting and frustrating: exciting because the viewer gets to see all the ideas in their various forms before being edited into a final product, frustrating because the film comes in bit and pieces that dilutes the impact of the story. But there is enough here to see that once finished this strange, somewhat macabre story should have appeal with audiences.

Allan Dawson (Keith Roenke) is in a seemingly flatline relationship with live-n girlfriend Sylvia (Torie Tyson, better known for her singing than her acting skills): something is missing (other than the apparent age mismatch between the young Roenke and the more mature Tyson), a fact that becomes apparent when Allan is notified that his grandmother has bequeathed him land on the Greek Island of Santorini. Allan departs to investigate the surprise, thinking he will immediately sell the property to better his financial status. But once he arrives in Santorini he is mesmerized by the beauty of the island and is introduced to the inherited home by an agent Niko (Jorge Ameer). As Allan settles in he hears strange sounds and discovers they come form a locked closet containing a human clone - filthy and whimpering. The naked male is named D'Agostino (Michael Angels): apparently heading on a transatlantic voyage at sea from an Italian lab to America, D'Agostino is a human clone left for dead at the shores of Santorini. This lost cargo, commissioned by wealthy individuals for organ transplants, is abandoned as the freight cannot be recovered.

Allan cleans the clone, feeds him, keeps him on a leash like a pet animal, an slowly becomes attached to D'Agostino. When D'Agostino goes missing Allan is frantic and searches for his lost treasure along the shores of the island - the place where the lost D'Agostino sits in reverie. Through a series of dream sequences we watch as Sylvia becomes less important and D'Agostino becomes the extension of Allan he has always longed to discover. There is a surprise ending the will take the audience off guard and Jorge Ameer handles this neo- science fiction ending very well.

As is usually the case with Ameer's films, the visuals are of utmost importance. Here cinematographer Zach Voytas captures the flora and fauna and the generally breathtaking beauty of Santorini to great effect. The musical score, the reason for this release of a memento of the film, is a mixed bag, too often covering the dialogue of the film, but the ingredients are there and hold great promise. It is bizarre, challenging, and in line with Jorge Ameer's fresh take on cinema.

Grady Harp