Tribeca ’25: Dog of God

He calls himself a werewolf, but he is really more of a holy fool and an immortal wanderer. However, as a portent of trouble, he is even more ominous than a plague of locusts. Frankly, things have been bad in the village of Zaube since forever. It has been mismanaged by both Church, represented by Priest Buckholz, and the state, in the person of inattentive Baron Klodt. Frankly, only tavern keeper and natural healer Neze reliably delivers services to villagers, but she stands accused of witchcraft in Lauris & Raitis Abele’s animated feature Dog of God, which premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival.

Life is hard for Kilbis, thanks to his physical body and the cruelty of his master, Buckholz. At least, the pervy priest periodically orders Kilbis to flog him, but the poor altar boy understands it is just to reinforce his hatred. Nevertheless, the priest has plenty lusty peeping to atone for. Instead, he blames Neze for supposedly supplying the temptation. Hence, his accusations of witchcraft.

However, the Dog of God rather unsettles everyone when he crashes Neze’s trial. Nobody really knows what to make of him, but his spooky talk is definitely bad for business, so he winds up in the stocks next to her. Of course, you cannot keep a supernatural drifter tied down for long.

These are heady days for Latvian animation. Unfortunately for fans of the medium, Dog of God has none of the charm of the Oscar-winning Flow. Indeed, all the cruelty and scatological gross-outs have a bludgeoning effect on the audience. Frankly, when it finally ends, you might need an aspirin and warm shower—and maybe even your security blanket.

Obviously, that means Abele sibling filmmakers left out one element a lot fans prefer in their animated films: fun. This film is so dark and so hateful towards the Church, watching it really becomes a chore. That is a shame, because they create some wonderfully macabre imagery. The Dog of God, a traditional figure of Latvian folklore, is also a fascinating character.

Granted, the rotoscope animation suits the dark gothic themes. Its sinister style is quite distinctive. Unfortunately, the narrative is so driven by its worldview, it is easy to anticipate each development before they happen. That means the suspense is limited. More than anything, the film just rubs our noses in the miserablism. Not recommended, the Dog of God screens again tonight (6/7) and tomorrow night (6/8), as part of this year’s Tribeca.