A pair of

twins

in their 30s, homeless with no job or future, get the chance to make some money by delivering "goods" to customers around town.

Drugs, they think, but the cargo turns out to be young prostituted women.

The siblings' inner moral voice is drowned out by their rumbling stomachs.

Initially.

Feature film debutant Isabella Carbonell sketches a nasty world where those at the bottom of the ladder step on each other to get up, while those at the top can buy anything for money.

"Dogborn" is

clearly inspired by Lukas Moodysson's trafficking drama "Lilja 4-ever" and there are similarities, but Carbonell goes his own way.

"Dogborn" doesn't have as much dirt under its nails, not the same realistic impact.

Carbonell pulls the camera away before it gets really nasty (which admittedly has its points, you don't have to show everything) and lets the drama dance in neon.

The photo is suggestive, partly posing.

Stylish but a little distant.

It's a myopic film that invests more in close-ups than establishing shots, which undeniably gives a claustrophobic nerve, but it also makes the story exist as if in its own closed universe, where many questions are left unanswered.

We know very little about the sibling pair, except that the sister is the driving force and that the brother suffered a trauma in Syria that left him mute.



But this is

also rather a "mood piece", a film that is based more on mood than story.

Condition rather than forward motion.



In addition, with a markedly few words of dialogue, which is thankful.

Film is, after all, a visual medium – but even so, Carbonell and company don't seem to really trust our perception, as they plod along with a lot of meaningful glances.

Especially in the first act, where long glances are supposed to guide us to the emotions of the characters.

And an overly clear look can unfortunately say more than a thousand words.

The rating is

on the verge of being too high, but "Dogborn" is a film with attitude, Isabella Carbonell doesn't want to go along, she follows her own film path - it must be awarded.