Sonya Salomaa as the sad-eyed Betty

The title refers to the barking dog tied up in the yard outside Betty's house, who bit her in the face when she was 10, thus setting off what the film presents as its primary driving symbol: the dog is not only a literal dog but also the representation of what keeps Betty in the small town where she was raised, waitressing at the diner instead of pursuing her dreams of becoming the next Joni Mitchell.

Now there's a killer on the loose in town, but that's only the beginning of Betty's troubles - with a volatile ex-boyfriend, a thieving sister, a mentally ill mother, a needy boss and all number of other dismal small-town characters pulling at her sleeve, Betty has almost as many problems as there are overbearing symbols woven through the script. The river, the rocks in the river, the killer hiding next to the river, an abandoned golf course project called Paradise, the barking dog - my God, the list goes on and on and on.

My good feelings about this small but toothsome project, which was in competition at the Locarno Film Festival, make it difficult to add my main criticism, but here it is: The script - by noted playwright Jeremy John Bouchard - needs nothing so much as a couple more edits. For one thing, the story is so heavily laden with stagy symbolism that it can hardly find the legs to move forward. And when it does, the talented actors saying his lines have to swallow far too many of the worst kind of speech - the kind that is commonplace in theatre, but that a wise story editor cuts out of a script. Still though, there are moments here that with a little buffing would shine.

Black Eyed Dog

 
 

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Film Review 101/Behold, Pierre Gang's future gift to Canadian cable TV, Black Eyed Dog!     Thankfully we've got Bravo! and Showcase otherwise none of us would ever see this movie...well, assuming we even want to. Just reading the review of the movie reminds me of the first rule of making a great pizza--get the right ingredients together and don't overdo it with the toppings. Don't follow this rule and you end up with a gooey mess that tastes like nothing at all. This movie sounds like it has enough material for three seperate movies so I think I'll wait for Bravo! or Showcase to get their hands on it. Hey, I've only got so much money to go around and I really don't feel like spending it on something that looks like it might give me the film equivalent of indigestion...
Pedro Eggers		October 6th, 2006
Begins With a Bite     I am curious to see if the film is too laden with symbolism to move forward. If the film does not have certain qualities of films like Sixth Sense where there is enough space for intrigue to develop and allow opposing forces play out their roles, then it might be too static to watch. And the last thing one would want to add to a static film is a script with too many lines to blurt out. Student writers might then get valuable lessons by watching the film and seeing how the script works with or against the film.
Martin Dansky		October 4th, 2006

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