Promo Trailer for Kinky Finnish Dramedy Film 'Dogs Don't Wear Pants'

"I've met a nice lady." Time to get kinky. TIFF has debuted an international promo trailer for the Finnish film Dogs Don't Wear Pants, which first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar, and is showing in Toronto next month. Described as an "affecting and absurd dramedy", Dogs Don't Wear Pants is about a guilt-stricken widower who discovers that a demanding dominatrix might be able to give him the therapy he needs. A film about how brutal BDSM and pup play might actually be the therapy certain people need. Starring Pekka Strang, Krista Kosonen, Ester Geislerová, Ilona Huhta, Jani Volanen, and Oona Airola. This funky Finnish film is still seeking international distribution after Cannes, and hopefully a few brave cinephiles will give it a look up in Toronto. I love the title, and from this trailer the awkward comedy seems to elevate this story in just the right way. It's weird but still worth a look.

Here's the festival promo trailer (+ poster) for J-P Valkeapää's Dogs Don't Wear Pants, from YouTube:

The film begins during a bucolic cottage sojourn for surgeon Juha (Pekka Strang), his wife, and their young daughter Elli. Tragedy strikes almost immediately, as Juha's wife drowns in a fishing net he had carelessly left out. Years later, Juha, still struggling to deal with his sadness and regret, is teetering on the brink of a complete breakdown. When the now-tween Elli (Iloni Huhta) orders him out of the piercing salon where she's getting a tongue stud, he stumbles into a dominatrix's studio next door, where he finds a salve for his guilt in the person of Mona (Krista Kosonen), a demanding mistress who is as eager to punish Juha as he is to be punished. Things spiral out of control as Juha grows increasingly reckless, even suicidal, and it becomes alarmingly clear that neither he nor Mona know how far they are willing to go. Dogs Don't Wear Pants is directed by Finnish filmmaker J.-P. Valkeapää, director of the films The Visitor and They Have Escaped previously. The screenplay is written by J.-P. Valkeapää and Juhana Lumme. This premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in Directors' Fortnight this year, and it next plays at TIFF. The film opens in Finland in November this fall. There's no international release dates set so far. Who's interested?