L'amico fedele

Reuniting St Vincent (2014) stars, Bill Murray and Naomi Watts, The Friend is a heavy, emotional tale that deals with death, suicide, and perseverance.

Positives +Naomi Watts knocks it out of the park!

+Apollo the Great Dane is a cute pup actor.

+Scene voiceovers switch between characters +Thorough plot that examines all aspects of the story +A bit of creative fantasy

Negatives -Multiple "False endings" scenes. You think the movie is over, but then another scene appears. Again. And again.

-Felt too long with the above endings.

-A lot of characters thrown in at once, but not explained until later.

This movie had me crying in my seat. The connections of suicide, survivors guilt, regrets, and family were heavy. But your connections to these topics could increase or decrease your enjoyment. Buckle in for a long, but fulfilling journey.

-GremlinLord615 -Full Reviews on my YT.

Watched the Friend at NYFF among an appreciative and applauding crowd. It is a multi dimensional story of grief where we don't know whether the human is supporting the animal ot is it vice versa.

We try to understand Walter's character thru interactions of his near and dear ones. Iris is a complicated character poignantly played by Naomi Watts.

But at the end it is Apollo who helps everyone find their way in life.

The backdrop of NYC where the story is based also shot was amazing. It has its own character as Iris and Apollo go thru their daily life among the teeming millions.

Finally a great shoutout to the dog playing Apollo. One of the beat animal acted movies.

While on vacation in Hollywood (ooh la la) I obviously had to see a movie. Funnily enough, I chose the most "New York" movie out there. THE FRIEND is a drama based on a book by Sigrid Nunez about a writer named Iris (Naomi Watts). Her best friend Walter (Bill Murray) commits suicide, leaving her to deal with the grief of the loss, his many exes, and a Great Dane called Apollo. Living in a tiny apartment building, her landlord is urging her to move out because of Apollo. This dog is a huge scene stealer, very expressive and such a good boy. Yes he is. He reminds us that he's grieving right alongside Iris. They start to bond, even though she's not a dog person. This movie shows how one person can affect the people around them in different ways. There are thought-provoking and fascinating conversations that take place here. Taking control of your life can look like a variety of things, small or big. Apollo could be seen as a metaphor for a few things, depending on who's asking. THE FRIEND will resonate with dog-owners and everyone who has experienced loss, which is probably most people.

A classic definition of a "guy flick" is one in which many people die very rapidly - the corresponding definition of a "chick flick" is one in which one person dies very slowly. "The Friend" is a variation on the latter theme in which a major character (Murray) dies at the outset of the film, and most of two hours is spent depicting how his widow, his ex, his daughter, his dog, and his best friend/protégé/ex lover (Watts) and the dog Apollo (a gigantic Great Dane) slowly come to terms with that death. The production values are excellent. The acting is magnificent. The pacing is tedious. Seeing it once was more than enough.

I Cannot understand why this movie got a lot of negative reviews. It's idea was pretty understandable after the get go and the developments were also pretty predictable, but it is a movie with a lot of hurt. And one big Danish dog, with such sad eyes.

I liked the duality of the friendship in this movie. From one side Iris lost her best friend and she is chasing his memory through several channels. From the other side, she got another friend instead. One that doesn't need to talk for expressing his feelings, but you can understand exactly what he means, without even opening his mouth.

The details reveal slowly and after all layers are peeled, we are staying with a woman and a dog. And a problem. The twist almost doesn't exist, actually, but the movie's heart is in the right place, and it still manages to get his audience to get excited and maybe even weep.

Bill Murray is almost nowhere to be found, except in the poster of the movie, to attract the attention of potential audiences. But after reading the accusations about him, probably would be better to remove his figure from the movie's poster and leave the stage to both actual main heroes of this movie.

Naomi Watts is absolutely fantastic in this movie. What a comeback after a long time without any good projects, which she had participated in (Penguin Bloom was the last time she had a good performance - it was in 2020). She is accurate and very convincible in a role that is not so easy to perform.

Constance Wu, Carla Gugino and several other fine actors and especially actresses are participating in this movie, that is not any massive news to drama genre, with sub-genre of man's best friend, but it is definitely a good one, that is worth watching.