Heart of a Dog

Brilliant memoir/essay film/experimental film about impermanence, family history, and love. If you like first-person cinema (Agnes Varda, Ross McElwee, Sarah Polley, Jem Cohen, Thomas Allen Harris, Doug Block, Su Friedrich, Jonathan Couaette, etc.) you'll love this film.

If you are looking to see a traditional documentary (social issues doc; biopic; historical film) and aren't familiar with literary memoir, art installations, animation, or personal essay (either written or filmed), you may find this film difficult or confusing, as did the previous reviewer.

But if you love memoir and poetry, and have been thinking about stuff like: 1) it's hard to lose beings we love 2) where do we go when we die? 3) what are the connections between big political losses and changes and smaller, more personal losses and changes? 4) what is the connection between suffering and empathy and meaning? 5) how do our own particular hardships affect how we relate to our families? YOU'LL LOVE THIS FILM.

If you love humor, subtlety, formal innovation, Buddhist cosmologies, intelligence, mystery, and (yes) dogs, GO FOR IT.