A Living Dog

Slow but a great post apocalyptic film to watch if you're deaf or hearing impaired as there's no vocal script. Just imagine tense music and sound effects throughout.

It's hard to write a review for this movie because it's hard to figure out why A Living Dog works as well as it does. One minor question that I haven't yet sorted out is why it's called "A Living Dog." There is a living dog who makes a very brief appearance in silhouette only but I guess that the movie name has additional meaning. I think one thing that is very interesting is that movie transcends the cliches it references and employs: the "Terminator Machines" and the apocalypse details are referenced with brief "yada yada yada" nods. We are given just enough info to "get the lowdown". So the movie ultimately transcends it's own plot, doesn't get caught up in it's own details. It actually has a kinship in my humble opinion with The Verdict (1982) directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Paul Newman. The male protagonist is a kind of silent Frank Galvin character reciting to himself "There are no other cases, this is the case."

I had the chance to watch this movie during the Landsberg film-festival "snow dance". It is a low-budget movie which surprises with realistic animations and strong film-music/sounds.

The setting is quickly told: robots and drones have taken over the world and are hunting any living human. Our hero has managed to survive and escaped into a wooden-house in the North. There he meets a female survivor who is trying to fight the robots.

The movie lives from the atmosphere and the beautiful shots. There is little talk since any talk would attract the robots. The relationship between the main actors also remains quite superficial.

Expect a dense atmosphere, with few moments where you can escape from this apocalyptic future by diving into relaxing nature-shots of Finland's' forests and lakes.

Also great screenplay and acting. (Only the last minutes felt a bit stretched...)

A shaky, earthy, rough and true piece of Indie-cinema - with one condition: You have to like giant killer robots! ;)

No dialog is the main reason why this movie is hard to watch. The story could be told in five minutes but instead it is dawn out to an overly long turgid drama. The special effects are the best bit of the whole thing. The premise that the machines are pretty stupid or blind to humans is totally ludicrous.. i stuck it out to the end but it just felt like a total waste of time. Acting, such as it is, is mediocre, storyline is poor, cinematography is ok. It is obvious that this is a low budget movie where all of the money had to be spent on the special effects. Probably best avoided - you have been warned!