GOOD DOG (The Space)****

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9K_QH3p3zI&t=9s

Available until: Unknown

This film is called good dog in lower case so I am going to write it that way in this review. It was adapted by Natalie Ibu from a play with the same name and stylisation by Arinzé Kene. The film was commissioned by The Space and supported by the BBC and Arts Council England and directed cleverly and sensitively by Ibu and Andrew Gillman, telling us little, showing us a lot – but not showing everything.

I haven’t seen the original play so it’s difficult to comment on the adaption, but this film, which is just nineteen minutes long, has a really powerful narrative and asks some challenging and important questions. It doesn’t directly address race, but I do feel it’s there under the surface in the situations faced by the characters and the metaphorical nature of some of the events.

The film is a series of memories. A Boy walks around his neigbourhood, sharing stories from his life about the things he witnessed as he grows up. He sees Trevor Senior and his worries for his son, Trevor Junior. He introduces us to shopkeeper Gandhi and the sacrifices he has to make. The Boy’s younger self walks down a street, feeling threatened but knowing what he needs to do. And finally there’s the small dog whose mental health is suffering.

There is more to these stories than I’ve said because I don’t want to give too much away, but I think the stories are very moving. Anton Cross is very likeable as the Boy and he tells his stories well. But he isn’t just sharing memories. There is more to it than that and even before things fall into place (assuming that I’m interpreting this film correctly – I might not be), there is an undercurrent of something. A feeling that something is wrong, something beyond the anecdotes.

The other actors have little or nothing to say, presenting their thoughts through their performances and through the Boy’s description of what he imagines is in their minds. Vinta Morgan gives a very affecting performance as Trevor Senior, and his son, played by Morgan Hudson, seems like a nice lad. Amerjit Deu shows us Gandhi’s fears through his facial expressions.

But perhaps it’s what we don’t see in good dog that is most significant of all.