WELCOME TO OUR NEXT SCREENING
Lasse Hallström's
MY LIFE AS A DOG
(Sweden | 1985 | 101 mins | PG sexual references)
Wednesday 1 October, 7.30PM, University of Otago’s Castle 1 Lecture Theatre**
This charming, bittersweet portrait of childhood from Oscar-nominated director Lasse Hallström tells the story of a twelve-year-old boy sent to live in the country when his mother falls ill.
|
|
| | “This charming, bitter-sweet evocation of childhood is something of a minor gem. Set in the Sweden of the 1950s, it describes the 400 blows suffered by a resourceful, twitchy and energetic 12-year-old boy who is farmed out to country relatives when his antics and demands for attention prove too much for his ailing mother. Hallström nurtures from his young star (Anton Glanzelius) a performance of remarkable range and maturity, presenting a poignant picture |
| of youthful tenacity struggling to come to terms with disappointments and events that may be beyond his comprehension, but which he manages to negotiate with his quirky, open-eyed optimism intact. Witty, touching and perceptive as he contrasts the rural village and its strange but generous-hearted eccentrics with the harsher realities of the city, Hallström makes it a seamless mix of tragedy and humour” (Wally Hammond, Time Out). |
|
FURTHER REVIEW
"In the story of Ingemar... Hallström foreshadows the themes of isolation, mortality, and compassion he would further develop in his best American film, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. Instead of sentimentalizing Ingemar’s emotional highs and lows, My Life as a Dog relishes the ambiguities inherent to his impressionable gaze, the gaps in his memory that seem as natural and cyclical as the changing seasons. While death is a constant in My Life as a Dog, it’s never sensationalized as a morbid curiosity or gimmick. Instead, Hallström focuses on the ripples of mortality, how |
Ingemar connects his personal anguish with experiences of loss from supporting characters... for every sequence in My Life as a Dogconcerned with the subtle and unseen ramifications of death, there’s countless more about the rhythms of life, punctuated by Björn Isfält’s breezy musical score bridging sequences of vibrant movement and discovery. During Ingemar’s extended vacation... he meets a wide array of unique characters that expand his physical and emotional world" (Glenn Heath Jr., Slant Magazine). |
|
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Finally, watch this video essay on My Life as a Dog by critic Krister Persson. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
ABOUT THE DUNEDIN FILM SOCIETY
ADMISSION
Free to members.
TO JOIN
To purchase a Half Season membership:- complete a membership form from our website and pay by online bank transfer (06-0942-0696013-00);
- or join at the door before any screening (cash only).
- you can also join at the OUSA office reception at the University of Otago (cash only).
Alternatively, you can purchase a Three-Film sampler ($25), which can be also be shared to bring two friends to one screening. The sampler does not expire and can be used over multiple years.
Membership includes generous discounts at Rialto Cinemas (from Monday to Friday); and FREE entry to the 2025 screenings of all other affiliated New Zealand Film Societies. Each member is entitled to ONE FREE GUEST ADMISSION to a single screening.
**To get to the Castle 1 Theatre: walk up between the University of Otago’s Arts building (Burns) and Information Services building (Central Library), on Albany Street.
WE WELCOME YOUR FEEDBACK!... on this screening, or any other Dunedin Film Society showing, on dunedinfi...@gmail.com –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– |
|
| | Dunedin Film Society
C/- 1 Crewe Street Maryhill Dunedin, Otago 9011 |
|
|
|
