Heart of a Dog (2015)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Straight into my soul, her voice, the imagery and the sheer poetry of the strength of love and loss and coming into being.... and leaving.

What attracted me to go watch this is that it seemed more like a feature length essay video, which it was.The images are quite spellbinding and the narration is overall well written and pleasant to listen to.I found the first 30 minutes completely captivating and put me into an introspective mood.Then something happened that I can't quite explain. But the movie just completely lost my interest. I think that might be due to it dwelling for too long on the same sentiment. I was afraid that I would suddenly grow to hate this movie even though at first I was quite captivated.Then, thankfully, it turned a new leaf and I was captivated once more for the last 40/30 minutes.It is poignant, emotionally charged and quite beautiful to look at. But it did only have a few moments that really stood out for me.A favorite of this year for sure. But definitely only a lower ranking favorite for me overall, and a movie I will most likely only re-watch once.

I dvr'd this based on HBO's description, "Laurie Anderson reflects on the passing of her mother, her husband (Lou Reed) and her dog" What I saw was one minute of reflection about her mother in the beginning and one minute at the end. There was absolutely ZERO reflection about Lou unless you want to count the one grainy picture of him during the movie, or the picture of him and the song of his during the end credits. The dog was well represented and saw significant screen time in the film and was obviously more loved than the mother or husband.Ms Anderson even stated that she did not love her mother during the film.I was very interested to hear her feelings on her husbands passing and got absolutely nothing. She really should have just made the movie entirely about the dog.

"Heart of a Dog" (2015 release; 75 min.) is a non-fiction movie by musician/performance artist Laurie Anderson. As the movie opens, we see a cartoon-animated Laurie Anderson inform us that "this is my dream body" and that in her dream she gives birth to an adult dog whom she calls Lolabelle. It's not long before Laurie starts reflecting on her dying mother, 9/11, SIDS, and a bunch of other things.Couple of comments: Laurie Anderson, best known for her minimalist music such as "O Superman" from the early 80s, is no stranger to movie making. Here she takes two particular tough periods in her life, the decline and death of her rat terrier Lolabelle and the decline and death of her mother, to weave a collage of images and montage of sound, supplemented by Laurie's spoken words in which she explores "the connection between love and death" (Laurie's words) and everything in between. One might call it a stream of consciousness, except that Laurie is not rambling in the least. Let me tell you. it makes for one amazing movie experience. It's like being in a dream. if not a trance, where things somehow become a lot clearer. Let me also mention that I was vaguely aware of the movie, along the lines of: "that's the documentary about Laurie's dog", and I almost did not watch the movie for that reason. As it turns out, the movie devotes only about 10-15 min. to the dog, and the movie is not even a documentary. So it was a complete misconception on my part what this movie was about (and to be honest, the movie's title only reinforced that misconception). Last but not least, Laurie's husband Lou Reed (who passed away in 2013) isn't mentioned a single time, but an excellent song of his, "Turning Time Around", does play over the movie's end titles. Please note: you don't have to be a fan of Laurie Anderson to appreciate this movie (but it certainly doesn't hurt if you are)."Heart of a Dog" showed up out of the blue and without any pre-release buzz or advertising at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati last weekend. The early evening screening when I saw it a few days ago was not attended well (three people, including myself), and I noticed that it will drop out of the theater after today. That's a shame, as this is a remarkable movie in many respects, and by all means deserves a wider audience. If you are in the mood for something very different, all the while realizing that is a deeply personal essay and film from Laurie Anderson, I encourage you to check it out, be it in the theater, on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray. "Heart of a Dog" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!