Though the title My Life as a Dog conjures an image of someone deprecating themselves to act like the pet of an aristocrat, Director Lasse Hallstrom’s adaptation of Reidar Jonsson tells instead the story of an odd child whose strained childhood has left him with an emotional anxiety that manifests in a number of strange behavioral quirks. The story comes dangerously close to alienating its audience with its child protagonist who seems to be operating on a plane of reason far removed from our own, but the film reels us back in by tying the child’s plight into that of Laika, the dog launched into space as part of the Soviet space program, only to be abandoned there with no connection or intent to be rescued. To live knowing you’ve been sent away so others can gain from your absence in their world could cause a plethora of emotional responses in a rational adult. For a child the resulting tumult is simpler but more unpredictable.
Ingemar’s greatest joys come from the time he spends with his ailing mother (Anki Liden), who loses strength every day and resigns herself ever more to days spent reading in bed. This leaves Ingemar (Anton Glanzelius) and his brother with plenty of time to goof off which inevitably leads to mayhem their mother has to clean up, only draining her further. Eventually she reaches a point where she can no longer look after Ingemar and she sends him to live with his uncle Gunnar (Tomas von Bromssen) whose love for life and eccentricities give Ingemar a distraction from missing his mother. As Ingemar begins his life in a new town, he gets drawn into the normalcies of boyhood including soccer, boxing, and young love. Even as he pines to be back home with his mother and beloved dog, Ingemar’s life has a level of fullness it never had before, and so when he comes to comprehend the truth behind his mother sending him away and what that really implies, a flood of emotions put the state of his new life in conflict with how he wishes it could be.
What sets My Life as a Dog apart from countless other films exploring the emotional fragility of a child in development is the performance of Anton Glanzelius which wrenches the audience’s heart as he struggles to understand the hard truth life is thrusting at him. The nearly impossible maturity he presents with the character gives the film every bit of the earned emotional heft it carries, and makes it an involving observation of a child in crisis. The film may not be a perfect final product due to some of the characters being more caricatures than anything else, but Glanzelius’s performance makes it a film worthy of at least one viewing.
The Criterion Collection has given My Life as a Dog a fitting high-definition presentation, giving the environs of Sweden a deep and welcoming feel even in the frigid winter season of the film’s final act.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
I must admit a certain level of disappointment at how light the disc feels when it comes to extras. For a film where the main star and director are alive and well, you’d like to think The Criterion Collection could have put together some superb retrospectives for the Blu-ray release. That’s not the cast. There is a video interview with Lasse Hallstrom but it’s from 2002 and only 19 minutes long. It’s been nearly a decade since then and it would have made the set much better if they’d have gotten a new piece from him. The disc’s other extra is Hallstrom’s 1973 film, Shall We Go to My or Your Place or Each Go Home? Time hasn’t been too kind to the film as its appearance is very grainy and the staging nowhere near as well done as My Life as a Dog, of course this film preceded it by 12 years, so clearly that time in between benefitted Hallstrom eye for film immensely. Each Go Home? has a video introduction by Hallstrom, but it’s nothing too informative or meaningful. Finally, the set features essays by Kurt Vonnegut, as a love letter of sorts to the film and Hallstrom, and film critic Michael Atkinson, who dissects the film’s progression from the point of view of its child protagonist.
"My Life as a Dog (The Criterion Collection)" is on sale September 13, 2011 and is rated PG13. Comedy, Drama. Directed by Lasse Hallstrom. Written by Reidar Jonsson (novel), Lasse Hallstrom. Starring Anki Liden, Anton Glanzelius, Tomas Von Bromssen, Melinda Kinnaman.
