Blu-Ray Review: Lasse Hallström’s Marvelous, Bittersweet ‘My Life as a Dog’

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CHICAGO – Neither flat-out depressing nor mawkishly sentimentalized, Lasse Hallström’s 1985 Swedish classic, “My Life as a Dog,” avoids all the mistakes routinely committed by filmmakers working within the coming-of-age genre. It doesn’t view events through a treacly nostalgic haze and doesn’t condescend to its characters as if they were all quirky eccentrics ripe for satirizing.

The world as seen through the eyes of twelve-year-old Ingemar (Anton Glanzelius) feels so achingly real that it might cause some viewers to wince out of recognition. His lack of coordination and tireless energy cause him to create a great deal of trouble, particularly when goaded by his older brother. The household’s escalating stress proves to take a toll on Ingemar’s ailing mother (Anki Lidén), whose maternal instincts have vanished along with her health.

HollywoodChicago.com Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0

It’s not long before the boys are split up and sent to live with relatives, while Ingemar’s beloved dog is sent to the kennel. Viewers unfamiliar with this picture can rest assured that it is in fact not a Swedish remake of “The Shaggy Dog.” The title poignantly refers to Ingemar’s feelings of neglect and alienation amongst adults who view him as little more than a burden, or worse, a wild animal. Few films have better illustrated why kids “lash out irrationally” at a world that seems disinterested in their own needs. With his father absent and his mother fading fast, Ingemar attempts to cope by comparing his misfortunes to those of people who are far worse off. Hallström utilizes narration in much the same way as Terrence Malick. The words often don’t relate to the image in a literal sense, but greatly enhance the emotional, psychological and thematic texture of each scene. There’s a beautiful moment when Ingemar finds himself in bed next to an old woman who’s been assigned to house him for the evening. Her husband has just died, and Ingemar is surprised to find that his loneliness is not all that different from her own. This moment is emblematic of the film’s hopeful tone, since it is ultimately the common humanity Ingemar finds at his uncle’s small country village that proves to be his salvation. The warm flow emanating from his uncle’s glass factory represents a kindling of new life that is strikingly juxtaposed with the chilly indifference of the cosmos overhead.

Anton Glanzelius stars in Lasse Hallström’s My Life as a Dog.
Anton Glanzelius stars in Lasse Hallström’s My Life as a Dog.
Photo credit: Courtesy of the Criterion Collection

11-year-old Glanzelius delivers one of the most extraordinarily complex and unaffected child performances in the history of film, and his achievement is due in no small part to the direction of Hallström (who later coaxed a career-topping performance out of a young Leonardo DiCaprio in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”). The pained smile he spreads across his face while visiting his mother on her deathbed is utterly heartbreaking, while his mixed feelings toward potential girlfriend Saba (an equally sublime Melinda Kinnaman) are conveyed without a single mannered expression. Saba is a tomboy who wants to box with the boys but must hide her identity from suspicious adults. The townspeople’s barely repressed obsession with sex and objectification of breasts seep into the children’s own sexual awakening.

Though Ingemar assists in flattening her ever-protruding chest, Saba begins to fear that her gender will no longer stay a secret and starts to act on the feelings she’s long suppressed for her friend. One of the film’s most memorable images is that of Ingemar and Saba fighting in the ring before falling into a tender embrace. Yet like every subplot in the picture, this love story does not follow a formulaic path, and instead derails into the sort of confusion and misdirected angst that would befall kids their age. Ingemar isn’t ready for such a swift initiation into adulthood, and the friends’ frustrated feelings for one another eventually come to a head in the film’s hauntingly bittersweet and cathartic final act. Ingemar could’ve easily sunk into a void of bottomless despair, but he has chosen to survive by basking in the joys of life regardless of their inherently fragile nature. It’s the sort of timeless message that Woody Allen would appreciate, and the film’s last moments seem to foreshadow Allen’s own autobiographical 1987 effort, “Radio Days.”

My Life as a Dog was released on Blu-Ray on Sept. 13, 2011.
My Life as a Dog was released on Blu-Ray on Sept. 13, 2011.
Photo credit: Courtesy of the Criterion Collection

“My Life as a Dog” is presented in 1080p High Definition (with a 1.66:1 aspect ratio) and includes the same scant extras featured on Criterion’s 2003 DVD release. The main attraction for cinephiles is Hallström’s 1973 directorial debut, “Shall We Go to My or Your Place or Each Go Home Alone?” a 52-minute comedy originally broadcast on Swedish television. The influence of Milos Forman and John Cassavetes in Hallström’s improvisational style is quickly apparent, as his camera seamlessly intercuts between three friends aiming to bed the women they met at a club. In a brief introduction, Hallström reveals that the picture was largely inspired by his own experiences of the nightlife in Stockholm, and the intimate details captured by his documentary-style approach result in moments that are painfully funny and remarkably candid. In many ways, the film feels as fresh and personal as a new work by Joe Swanberg or Andrew Bujalski.
 
Retrospective interviews with members of the cast (particularly Glanzelius and Kinnaman) are sorely lacking from the disc. An accompanying booklet includes an essay from critic Michael Atkinson and a witty appreciation by the late Kurt Vonnegut, who credits the film for making him “like life and human beings much more than I had ever done before.” Hallström appears again in an 18-minute interview where he reveals the depth of his connection to Jönsson’s story. Though he cut some of the book’s bleaker passages in his adaptation (such as the section where Ingemar lives on his own), it was Hallström’s goal to avoid being accused of sentimentality. He names his Swedish peer Bo Widerberg as a chief artistic inspiration for his earthy slices of life, and says that he always reminds his actors that less is more. His philosophy certainly paid off in regards to his young actors, and the director notes that Glanzelius had the perfect genes for a performer (he was the son of a jazz musician and actress). Hallström admits that watching the film now leaves him feeling homesick and fearing that nothing he makes will ever top it. Yet considering the enduring brilliance of “My Life as a Dog,” that’s not a bad fear to have.

‘My Life as a Dog’ is released by The Criterion Collection and stars Anton Glanzelius, Tomas von Brömssen, Anki Lidén, Melinda Kinnaman, Kicki Rundgren, Lennart Hjulström and Ing-Marie Carlsson. It was written by Lasse Hallström & Reidar Jönsson & Brasse Brännström & Per Berglund and directed by Lasse Hallström. It was released on Sept. 13, 2011. It is not rated.

HollywoodChicago.com staff writer Matt Fagerholm

By MATT FAGERHOLM
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
matt@hollywoodchicago.com

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