Moon Dogs

The basic premise of the film is that a boy living on one of the Scottish Isles is separated from his girlfriend who goes to college in Glasgow, and he suspects she is cheating on him, so decides to confront her. He pulls his step brother along for the ride, and they meet a young temptress on route.

The film is sold partly as a road trip, but to be honest as the film is so short, there is not much of a journey. Other storylines are written in to justify the other characters accomanyment.. These are thinly painted. I can only assume we lost most of the story to an edit.

Some of the initial shots of the isles and the highlands are lovely. The plot was left at the wayside, but the film did give me the odd chuckle. I would have liked to have seen the threesome explored more, the whole movie could have been centred around that and fleshed out some. It just ended up flat and lifeless, save for a few good gags.

Certainly not terrible, but only vaguely amusing.

This is very nicely shot and has some great Scottish scenery, but it has a fatal flaw: none of the main characters is even vaguely believable as an awkward 18 year-old. Casting extremely attractive uber-confident twenty-somethings as shy withdrawn teenagers can sometimes work (e.g. Derry Girls) but more often than not it's just ridiculous.

The acting from the leads is pretty ropey (though some of the supporting cast aren't quite so bad) and the script is terrible. Almost no plot, nobody acts in even a vaguely believable way, pacing is all over the place, lots of montages. It seems very much like they shot someone's first draft; there's the beginnings of a story here, and with some serious rewriting maybe the script could have been knocked into some sort of shape.

Would give this about a minus ten if I could.

I was fortunate enough to catch this film at the 2017 Newport Beach Film Festival, and it lingered with me for days. It's no surprise it took home the Jury award for best film.

There was something ethereal about the Scottish landscapes that gave this movie a sort of quietness. The performances were so strong, with Tara Lee, Christy O'Donnell and Jack Parry-Jones (NBFF Best Actor winner) dominating throughout. Even the supporting actors, in the roles of the parents, had a powerful presence.

It would be trite to call this a coming-of-age film, but in many respects it is. The situations in which the characters find themselves create a transformation and maturing of each. Well worth the watch.

Felt like story was short. Characters with potential but not much depth. People appear out of nowhere, short clip films. But at least some good acting, beautiful views and nice soundtrack.

After his work in television, Phillip John makes his feature film debut as director, and not only does he do a solid job with how he keeps things running smoothly and making the story engaging but also the film itself is a road trap well worth being on board for.

'Moon Dogs' is not completely faultless but does a vast majority of things right. It's a very good film that's almost great, it comes that close to being that. The ending agreed is a little too mawkish and in terms of back-story there isn't much. 'Moon Dogs' is also not necessarily a film to be seen for plot logic, but not in a way that's distracting that it gets implausible. There's nothing else to criticise about 'Moon Dogs' otherwise.

For low-budget, 'Moon Dogs' is very pleasing, with slick photography and stunning and evocative landscapes. Anton Newcombe's music score is infectiously memorable and matches the locations and story's tone very well.

The script is acerbically funny, at times suitably dour and at times affecting. The comic set pieces are every bit as enjoyable and deliciously eccentric, particularly with body-piercings, hallucinatory puppets and a toy keyboard.

In terms of the story, it's episodic but never dull and with its fair share of humour and pathos, admittedly succeeding better in the former.

Good performances also helps, and the two leads Jack Parry-Jones and Christy O'Donnell carry the film excellently. Strong support also from particularly a spirited Tara Lee.

Overall, very good and nimbly done. 8/10 Bethany Cox