The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Quiet

It has nice potentials but it's flawed. It tackles so many subjects and has many implications in a way that makes it messy and unclear. It's so simple yet so confusingly complicated. It's so beautifully shot though, cinematography is just awesome. Lead performance is real.

What a beautiful film «El perro que no calla». Everything, the drawings, the music, the people who live and daily do, without so much questioning the order of the Cosmos, without so much resting, commanding, partying, accumulating... The dialogue of the umbrellas, the evolution of Sebas, the owner of the old dog that does not shut up, the plague that literally breaks and bends the community, except for those who worship their bubble-masks... Endearing. When Sebastián watered his little plants, almost at the end, I cried, because I know that it's up to all of us to leave and I would not want to go so soon, to find another corner where my plants flourish.

The best metaphor for our current reality. Because what happens on the film we would see as a rarity and now we almost look at it with indifference. Ana Katz builds a film full of humor (absurd), situations that sometimes border on the ridiculous, an overwhelming melancholy in a character who is overcome by everything. The dog mourns the absence of her owner, she feels as helpless as an owner without a dog.

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I'm not entirely sure, but The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Quiet is probably the shortest feature film of this year's Sundance. On one hand, it's an extremely fast viewing, which inevitably reaches a broader audience that can spread the word about the movie. On the other hand, it risks its story and characters in the sense that these could lack proper development. Ana Katz's direction is definitely a standout, employing a gorgeous black-and-white to elevate a story about human resilience and perseverance.

A non-stop series of adverse events affects Sebastian's life, but he always finds a way of moving on, dealing with the most damaging, hurtful of situations in a strangely distant manner. I don't know if this was a technical choice from the actor, Daniel Katz, but Ana Katz and Gonzalo Delgado's screenplay is indeed a bit uneven. Starting with a really unconvincing first half, The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Quiet eventually gets slightly better, but Sebastian is not an easy character to connect with due to his apparent indifference towards everything.

Many things that happen in his life would absolutely destroy some people, so his "whatever" behavior is weird, especially compared to other actions that he performs. In one scene, he looks like a responsible, caring, even funny human being, but as time changes between different periods of his life, Sebastian just looks like someone who doesn't really care about any sort of consequence. This character's inconsistency is definitely my main problem since I really found myself struggling to bond with him. Having watched Land yesterday, the latter approaches the same themes in a much more captivating manner. Technically though, the film has plenty of aspects worth praising.

Beautifully shot in B&W and accompanied by an interesting score (Nicolas Villamil), The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Quiet is meant to be a character-study about a person's resilience, determination, and perseverance in the face of the worst situations that happen across one's life. Despite the message being successfully transmitted, Daniel Katz's character is far from being a compelling protagonist due to his apparent indifference towards every negative event. Acceptance and moving on is understandable and motivational even, but if the movie doesn't depict the moments that define these steps, then it becomes really challenging to feel sorry for the main character, let alone inspired. Ana Katz demonstrates her talented directing skills, but her admittedly creative screenplay co-written with Gonzalo Delgado lacks consistency and energy.

Rating: C

Shot in black and white showing the pieces of Sebastian's life, which is full of inconsistencies and difficulties, the movie deals with the change in human relations especially during a catastrophic event like a meteor or pandemic. Our life-changing decisions are actually based on nonsense like choosing the dog over your job. How did we change our life for good? What was our decision based on in the first place? Were we right? Lots of questions to be answered.