The Good
A well made movie that looks at different sides of being an animal lover.
The Bad
The extra features got to be a tad redundant.
Year of the Dog tells the story of Peggy (Molly Shannon). A homebody type who loves her dog Pencil, things naturally cave in for her when he meets a sad end. She goes on a date with her neighbor Al (John C. Reilly) and, while being in his garage, comes to think that Pencil ate something in there that killed him. The fact that Al is a big hunting fan isn’t helping matters. Throughout the film we see Peggy in her life, interacting with various people and things start to look up when she adopts a dog from Newt (Peter Sarsgaard). He works at the animal center that Peggy brought Pencil to, and suddenly it seems like she has made a connection with someone. Mixed in with this are Peggy’s relationships with co-workers and her family, and it is through these interactions that we see how unhappy she is. She begins to devote her life to animals, at one point embezzling company funds and even adopting 15 animals from the pound. None of this seems to help make her truly happy, but she seems determined not to be who she was before Pencil died.
All in all Year of the Dog was a pretty interesting film. The independent film world has changed so much that I remember this movie being pretty under the radar (and it came from the indy division of a major studio) when it was released. That said, this film features rich performances, an interesting story and a steady directorial hand from first time helmer, Mike White.
Features
Mike White and Molly Shannon don’t seem that excited to be doing this commentary track. I am not expecting them to be bouncing off the walls, but I guess I would like them to be a tad more excited. White basically describes the shots on screen, where the story came from, the flatness of the movie (which I happen to like a lot), and they both talk about how Molly Shannon is on screen 99% of the time. There wasn’t anything that special about what they had to say here, but if you are fan of these people or you absolutely loved this movie I could see this track appealing to you.
Deleted Scene and Gag Reel
Featurettes
They have put a decent amount of featurettes on this release. Some of them I found to be a little redundant but here’s an abbreviated listing for your perusal:
Moviefone Unscripted with Mike White and Molly Shannon
Special Animal Unit
The Making of Year of the Dog
Through skimming around on these featurettes we find out that this idea came to White when a stray cat that he took care of died in his arms. He talks about wanting to make an animal film for a more sophisticated audience, he describes the characters in the movie, the actors discuss how they got involved, and basically it becomes apparent that this is a film for animal lovers. As I have said, I don’t think you need to watch all of this stuff. I would say check out the commentary and then randomly choose a featurette and you should get everything you need.
Video
Widescreen Version. Enhanced for 16:9 TVs. I loved the look of this movie. Mike White has made a film that is cut traditionally and almost sterile in terms of what it presents on screen. However, I feel that this works for this film as I think it makes it quite easy to get into the world of Peggy. Director of Photography Tim Orr seems like he’s gone out of his way to present this film as pristinely as possible. Even when Peggy’s house is flooded with dogs, the place is in shambles, that doesn’t stop this movie from looking really good.
Audio
Dolby Digital: English and Spanish 5.1 Surround. Subtitled in English and Spanish. The audio, mainly the soundtrack, are as unassuming as the look of this film. Overall the sound was pretty solid. I didn’t have a hard time hearing what any of the characters were saying and I never had to turn the subtitles on like I sometimes do. The audio is fairly straight forward and doesn’t back up the on screen images or get inside the characters heads, so much as it just adds another layer to this simple tale.
Package
Molly Shannon sits on this front cover with her faithful dog Pencil at her side. Behind her are some black and white line drawings of the characters, that seem like they were done by Daniel Clowes of Ghost World fame. The back cover serves up some more shots from the movie, all of which give us a thumbnail sketch of Peggy’s world. There is a description of what this movie is about, a Special Features listing, a credits list and system specs.
Final Word
Anybody who has a pet should see Year of the Dog. I am not saying that that is a prerequisite, but I think that it would certainly help draw you deeper into the story. In fact as I sat watching this film, I kept calling my cat Garfield to sit with me as I wanted to share this experience with him. Also, I think that Paramount should have pushed this film to that audience more. I know that Year of the Dog probably doesn’t seem mainstream, but in a lot of ways it really appeals to the animal lover in all of us. It also examines basic human emotions and situations. I loved how Mike White juxtaposed Peggy’s devotion to animals with her brother and sister-in-law’s devotion to their children. While I certainly think that human beings come first, I also (as a pet owner) don’t think that my love for my cat is any less valid.
At it’s best, Year of the Dog is an interesting independent film and the kind of movie that should have been advertised in pet shops, dog shows and anywhere else animal lovers find themselves residing.
Year of the Dog was released April 13, 2007.
