35/50
The following is a story of love, friendship, grief, and healing about a writer who adopts a Great Dane who belonged to a late friend and mentor. While most authors don’t like the way their books are adapted into films, Sigrid Nunez said she was happy with how her book was presented in this adaptation. Seen at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 11, 2024 (Watch First) Format: Regular Theater. The story doesn’t know where it’s going, so it mostly just keeps going and feels like it’s never going to end, and here’s the part where the viewer will feel a long and difficult running time, which isn’t even long, but feels like it because of the slow and sometimes boring pacing of the story. The dog is definitely the best part of the movie. The way he’s taught to show these emotions and use his body language to say something is very impressive. I didn’t really like how the story approached Bill Murray’s character because he seemed so useless. To me, the film feels more like a story between a dog and a grieving person than about a suicidal writer who dies and leaves behind a dog. In that aspect, it felt very chaotic and could have easily delved into that theme or shown a flashback that would support Bill Murray’s character. Other than that, nothing special, but overall a cute and warm film to watch!