Year of the Dog
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 1 hour, 37 minutes
Directed by: Mike White
Starring:
Molly Shannon - Peggy
Laura Dern - Bret
Regina King - Layla
Thomas McCarthy - Pier
Josh Pais - Robin
John C. Reilly - Al
Peter Sarsgaard - Newt
While any film that dares to eschew character models and stir conflicted emotions from the audience deserves applause in today’s highly homogenized film market, Mike White’s (writer of School of Rock and Nacho Libre) directorial debut, Year of the Dog, demonstrates that ambivalence may not be the best way to treat your viewer for one hundred minutes.
Peggy (Molly Shannon) has just lost her pet and closest friend, Pencil. White does a fantastic job of setting up Peggy’s world as one where she’s a non-entity: completely non-threatening, unchallenging, and the sounding board we all want to serve our narcisscism. But with Pencil’s death, Peggy has to find new meaning in her life and in doing so, both comedy and pathos ensue.
The film features strong supporting performances from excellent actors like John C. Reilly, Laura Dern, and Peter Sarsgaard. Sarsgaard almost steals the film by playing his character with a bizarre mixture empathy, creepiness, and asexuality. I’m left to wonder yet again why this man is still in supporting roles rather than playing the lead. But the real hero of the film is Shannon who will certainly surprise those who come in expecing her broad, slapstick comedy. It may not be difficult to demonstrate sadness over the loss of a pet (especially one as adorable as the pup who plays Pencil), but Shannon certainly deserves credit for finding the subtle humor in a character who over the course of the film, becomes worthy of our scorn.
And yet some who see this film will certainly feel the opposite towards Peggy. This is a film that will divide audiences before they even leave the theatre. There are scenes where some audiences will gasp and feel acute sadness for the situation at hand while there are others who will revel the dark humor. Unfortunately, the film’s ambivalence is really the only thing that will come through in the end. Year of the Dog is an interesting film and it’s a great film to discuss, even if all comments on the film will inevitably end with “yes, but…”
Words by
Matt Goldberg
4.10.07