“This is a small, warm-hearted drama where the lessons are about dealing with grief and loss.”
Con Nats
3.5 Walkies
Naomi Watts and Bing, a Great Dane, star in this story of grief, loss and love.
Walter (Bill Murray) is a famous writer who has taken his own life. Iris (Naomi Watts) is also a writer and former friend and lover who is somehow left with looking after Apollo (Bing), a stray great Dane, who Walter had adopted.
Apollo is a sombre dog who is grieving his master and takes over Iris’ apartment — which is a pain as she’s not allowed to keep pets. As their relationship grows, she doesn’t want to put him in a kennel or rehome him.
This is the sort of set-up for a slapstick comedy: dog turns lives upside down through comic scenes and mayhem and eventually wins hearts. The Friend ignores big comedic laughs and aims for subtlety. This is a small, warm-hearted drama where the lessons are about dealing with grief and loss.
While the drama revolves around ‘What happens to the dog?’ it’s all a metaphor for what happens to those left behind after an untimely death. It is tenderly handled by the writer and director duo of Scott McGehee and David Siegel in their adaptation of the best-selling novel by Sigrid Nunez. It is nicely shot with some creative framing and the soundtrack is excellent.
This is well-trodden territory and this year we’ve had penguins instead of dogs. What elevates this above the usual is the acting. We often overlook just what a high-quality actress Naomi Watts is. Her understated performance is the heart of this story and you can see the true pain she feels without any over-reach. You can say the same about Bing, the dog. He is too subdued to be a scene stealer but he says more in one look than some can convey with words. Bill Murray also does great work in his few scenes and the support cast of Carla Gugino (Elaine), Sarah Pidgeon (Val) and Felix Solis (Hektor) are all very good.
By sticking to the novel there are two epilogues which don’t add much after the film’s emotional peak, but they do address the themes of unresolved loss. They only add to the length and not the impact.
By this time we are already invested in Iris and Bing and are left with a touching, well acted and directed dramedy.
Con Nats, On The Screen
