MY LIFE AS A DOG
A film review by Jeff Meyer
Copyright 1987 Jeff Meyer
Seen at the Seattle Film Festival: MY LIFE AS A DOG (Sweden, 1985) Director: Lasse Hallstrom Screenwriters: Lasse Hallstrom, Brasse Brannstrom, Pelle Berglund, Reidar Jonsson, from the novel by Jonnson Cast: Anton Glanzelius, Anki Liden, Tomas von Bromssen, Melinda Kinnaman Sub-titled
Several years ago, I saw FANNY AND ALEXANDER, Ingmar Bergmen's (supposedly) last picture, which was being hailed everywhere for its beauty and the lightness of tone it contained (especially when compared with much of the directors other work). While I found the film satisfying, I still thought it fairly stuffy and certainly overlong. Its imagery promoted a romantic air, but the ethereal script left little to support it. I came away feeling vaguely let down.
MY LIFE AS A DOG is everything I expected FANNY AND ALEXANDER to be. While it contains little of the cinematographic skill of Bergmen, its settings, its characters, and especially its script, have made it one of the best "life as seen through children's eyes" films I've ever seen. This is up there with TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and MY BODYGUARD (better than the latter, I think). The story centers on a young boy, something of an eccentric, who lives in a city apartment with his older brother and his invalid mother. His experiences are related as flashbacks between his staring into the stars. As his mother worsens, he is sent to his uncle and aunt's place in the country, a town built around a glass factory, and made up a variety of wonderful eccentrics. It is that kind of place that Dickens or Capra could create, and so many have tried to imitate; here, it is done successfully. Gene Siskel used to give his highest ratings to films that contained places he'd like to visit, people that he would like to talk to. MY LIFE AS A DOG has that in spades--you want to see it another time for the same reason you look through a photo album.
I'm not sure I could talk about the acting here; each person seems to have disappeared into their role with such abandon that it is difficult to think of them as having a life outside their character--which, I guess, is the point. How this boy comes to grip with the course his life takes is bittersweet, but never depressing; joyful, but never saccharine. His friends, his relatives... all are done with a wonderful, ordinary sense of joy. Let me tell you that the audience was laughing throughout this film, but not harshly; and I noticed that they were also smiling constantly, which is a sign I value even more. The director, who appeared afterwards, received a three-minute standing ovation; it was, I think, deserved. It is interesting to note that, according to the director, it was not planned for foreign release; however, he says the same reactions we displayed during the film seem to be universal in audiences of other countries.
The best film of the festival so far. A+. 5.00+ value. I urge you very strongly to see this if it plays in your town. It has an American distributor, and hopefully will be making the rounds soon. I really cannot see you being disappointed; from all accounts, no one here (and this a Friday Night audience) was.
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
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