Year of the Dog (C+ or 2/4 stars)
When Peggy (Molly Shannon) loses her best pal, a Beagle named Pencil, she faces a series of trials & tribulations en route to a newfound sense of her place in a very cynical world. 'The Year of the Dog', written & directed by Mike White, is a quirky little dark comedy; almost existential. I smirked, just as much as I became unsettled by its' ambiguous tone.
Peggy is content, though, she lives an introverted life. She's a middle aged, single white female with no kids. Peg leads a lonely existence as an overworked, mal-acknowledged secretary. But life was fine as long as she had Pencil near her. Unfortunately, he suddenly dies from accidentally ingesting a sort of toxin. From this point on, her life (and this plot) begins to flounder: a seemingly friendly neighbor, Al (John C. Reilly), asks her to dinner; she unexpectedly falls for an oddball veterinarian asst., Newt (Peter Sarsgaard); becomes a vegan ... things SEEM to be going swell.
Just when she thinks she's getting her life back on track, the shit hits the fan: what started as adopting '1' dog, turns into many; she upsets her obsessive sister-in-law (Laura Dern) by interfering with her daughter; her house becomes condemned; it becomes apparent that a romance with Newt will go nowhere; she loses her job; and she temporarily loses her mind. Through all this, the only thing that rights her passage is immersing in animal rights activism. She realizes that while the world is spinning out of control, and while she can't have a 'normal' life, her love of dogs will NEVER desert her.
I really dug 'most' of this unusual comedy' it's odd just how moved I was for some of the segments. Molly Shannon's comedy is quietly sarcastic, subtle, & dry here. Her early scenes with Pencil are adorable (I liked the whole PETA angle of the film). I liked the ambiguous relationship btwn. Peg & her nervous boss. 'Year of the Dog' was shaping up to be a perceptive, poignant, realistic case study on love & grief. But when she starts to 'lose it' as the film passes the half-way mark, I didn't quite know what the director was trying to accomplish. Her vocabulary/views/actions become extreme & she's practically pushed over the edge by a string of unfortunate circumstances (leading to a so-so climax).
Don't get me wrong, I liked more than I didn't. I get the whole "we all have problems, once you 'deal' with them, a catharsis can begin" angle. But although the ending is 'happy', I just don't think Peggy will completely heal from what's happened to her, she's just too socially awkward; so the ending is bittersweet. The ending wraps everything up copacetically, but we're too concerned about Peggy's mental stability in the end to think that everything will now be OK. Still, the acting is stellar, the dogs are cute, the plot is different, & the film knows when to end.
Peggy is content, though, she lives an introverted life. She's a middle aged, single white female with no kids. Peg leads a lonely existence as an overworked, mal-acknowledged secretary. But life was fine as long as she had Pencil near her. Unfortunately, he suddenly dies from accidentally ingesting a sort of toxin. From this point on, her life (and this plot) begins to flounder: a seemingly friendly neighbor, Al (John C. Reilly), asks her to dinner; she unexpectedly falls for an oddball veterinarian asst., Newt (Peter Sarsgaard); becomes a vegan ... things SEEM to be going swell.
Just when she thinks she's getting her life back on track, the shit hits the fan: what started as adopting '1' dog, turns into many; she upsets her obsessive sister-in-law (Laura Dern) by interfering with her daughter; her house becomes condemned; it becomes apparent that a romance with Newt will go nowhere; she loses her job; and she temporarily loses her mind. Through all this, the only thing that rights her passage is immersing in animal rights activism. She realizes that while the world is spinning out of control, and while she can't have a 'normal' life, her love of dogs will NEVER desert her.
I really dug 'most' of this unusual comedy' it's odd just how moved I was for some of the segments. Molly Shannon's comedy is quietly sarcastic, subtle, & dry here. Her early scenes with Pencil are adorable (I liked the whole PETA angle of the film). I liked the ambiguous relationship btwn. Peg & her nervous boss. 'Year of the Dog' was shaping up to be a perceptive, poignant, realistic case study on love & grief. But when she starts to 'lose it' as the film passes the half-way mark, I didn't quite know what the director was trying to accomplish. Her vocabulary/views/actions become extreme & she's practically pushed over the edge by a string of unfortunate circumstances (leading to a so-so climax).
Don't get me wrong, I liked more than I didn't. I get the whole "we all have problems, once you 'deal' with them, a catharsis can begin" angle. But although the ending is 'happy', I just don't think Peggy will completely heal from what's happened to her, she's just too socially awkward; so the ending is bittersweet. The ending wraps everything up copacetically, but we're too concerned about Peggy's mental stability in the end to think that everything will now be OK. Still, the acting is stellar, the dogs are cute, the plot is different, & the film knows when to end.