Something to watch tonight: Thursday 12 June
Heart of a Dog (Anderson, 2015)
Recently landed on AroVision in Aotearoa, Heart of a Dog is a great companion piece to Bryce Dallas Howard’s Pets which we recommended here a few days ago.
It played in the 2016 New Zealand International Film Festival and I reviewed it in one of my diary pieces for RNZ:
Performance artist and composer Laurie Anderson’s first feature film Heart of a Dog was surprisingly moving – emotionally as well as intellectually provocative. An extended essay on loss and grief, it blends autobiography, unexpected spirituality, civic politics and art in a package that landed heavily on me throughout.
As someone who has always been in complete denial about my own mortality, Anderson’s stories of the animals and people she has lost and how their deaths were, was profound. If I’m ever ready to let that topic into the intimate and personal sections of my brain, Heart of a Dog will be a text that I will come to rely on, I’m sure.
Most audiences will be aware going in that Anderson’s life partner Lou Reed passed away in 2013 and his absence casts a shadow (if that’s even possible) over the film, only becoming palpable near the end. There’s a fleeting glimpse of the couple on a beach – not two New York rock legends, just old people sitting on the sand together.
Also reviewed in that NZIFF diary: The First Monday in May, the documentary about the annual Met Gala; Park-chan Wook’s erotic masterpiece, The Handmaiden; Kore-eda’s less-than-erotic masterpiece, After the Storm; Errol Wright and Abi King-Jones’ The 5th Eye – I really should do a showcase of their Vanguard documentaries one day; the restoration of King Hu’s martial arts classic A Touch of Zen; Werner Herzog’s investigation of the online, Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World; and Molly Reynolds’ illuminating portrait of life for young Aboriginal people in a the remote Northern Territory settlement of Ramingining, Another Country.
Back in those days, NZIFF used to shout me in to any daytime session I wanted and they got half a dozen RNZ diary articles in exchange. Now neither organisation seems to be very interested which is disappointing.
Where to watch Heart of a Dog
Aotearoa: Digital rental from AroVision or streaming on DocPlay
Australia: Streaming on DocPlay
Canada: Digital rental
Ireland & UK: Digital rental
India: Not currently available
USA: Streaming on Criterion Channel
Ah, the good old days of festival diaries, and publications that cared about them. I did some of my favourite writing in the mid-2010s, back when that was possible.
As for the film, I've meant to watch it for ages. Thanks for the reminder.