Venice Review: ‘Pet Shop Days’
An intense, sordid film that wavers iridescently between genres, never following rules or sticking to conventions, Pet Shop Days is a bold and refreshing watch. Much like its unscrupulous two leads, it may also be rough around the edges – but that is part of its undeniable charm.
“Life is about being disappointed,” says one of the characters in Olmo Schnabel’s directorial debut Pet Shop Days. And that quote, uttered in the film’s very first opening minutes, perfectly sets the scene for what’s to come, encapsulating everything Pet Shop Days is about: disappointment. Being disappointed by your parents, by your friends. By your significant other. By yourself. But above all else, it’s about learning to live with those disappointments and attempting to salvage them into something more, something better, perhaps even to the detriment of others.
Pet Shop Days, which just recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival, centers on Alejandro, an impulsive young man who has a very (perhaps too) close relationship with his mother, and a more fraught, tumultuous one with his rich crimeboss father. After a tragic accident, Alejandro flees to New York City, where he comes across the seemingly innocent, wide-eyed Jack, an aimless young man who lives with his parents and spends his days working at the local pet shop. Sensing an affable soul he can easily manipulate to his own benefit, Alejandro zeroes in on Jack, and the two embark on a reckless crime spree that will forever change both of their lives as they know it.
Jack Irv, who also co-wrote the script alongside Schnabel and producer Galen Core, delivers what should easily be a starmaking performance as his initially naive and affable namesake. Magnanimous and good-natured despite his lack of prospects and his tense relationship with his father (notice a theme yet?), Jack wears his heart on his sleeves, a quality that places him firmly in the crosshairs of the charming and devious Alejandro. As Alejandro digs his claws deeper and deeper into Jack, you can’t help but feel scared and nervous for him as seemingly everyone but him can see he’s being manipulated by the more confident and headstrong Alejandro.
However, as the two start getting closer and closer, Jack (and the audience alongside him) soon discovers that he may also have a dark, sinister side to him, one that has been perfectly hiding underneath his floppy hair and boyish charm. In the process, Irv manages to conjure up a disquietly affecting, subtly stirring performance, one that gradually curdles into a haunting, tragic portrayal of isolation and desperation that will stay with viewers far after the credits roll.
Dario Yazbek, on the other hand, turns in a magnetic performance as the volatile live-wire Alejandro, bringing to mind the unhinged. deliciously wicked performances of Robert Pattinson in Good Time or Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon, while also managing to deliver a nuanced depiction of grief and loss that feels raw and authentic. Alejandro could have just as easily been a one-dimensional, morally repugnant stereotype in another actor’s hands but Yazbek manages to dig deep to deliver a mesmerizing performance that repels as much as it attracts. It’s an impressive, pitch perfect turn, one that that undoubtedly cements Yazbek’s status as an up-and-coming young actor to watch.
Elsewhere, Willem Dafoe delivers another great performance as Jack’s slimeball of a negligent father who may be hiding a few secrets of his own, while Louis Cancelmi manages to make a solid impression as Alejandro’s father’s personal security guard who has been tasked to locate his wayward son. The city of New York is also very much its own character in the film, which itself also doubles as a scathing love letter to the Empire City; with the help of cinematographer Hunter Zimny, Schnabel depicts NYC as a dark, gritty underworld but one that also feels like home to its group of oddball, ragtag characters, who seem like they wouldn’t be anywhere else.
However, the film is not perfect. Small in scale and messy in nature, it very much feels like a directorial debut, and with a 100-minute+ runtime, it ends up overstaying its welcome thanks to a repetitive third act that just borders on (but thankfully never fully becomes) tedious and monotonous to get through. Neverless, by the time the film comes crashing into its tragic, violent conclusion, viewers will have undoubtedly found themselves in equal parts charmed and (purposely) repelled by the film’s chaotic, turbulent nature. Much like its two leads, Pet Shop Days may be rough around the edges – but that is part of its undeniable charm.
While Pet Shop Days wears its influences on its sleeves proudly, with Schanel riffing on everything from Dog Day Afternoon to Scarecrow to Mean Streets, it also feels like something daring and new. It’s an intense, sordid film that wavers iridescently between genres, never following rules or sticking to conventions. As a result, it ends up marking the arrival of a bold, refreshing new voice in cinema. It’ll be interesting to see what Schnabel tackles next.