Juste une fois!

Good grief, what HAVE I stumbled upon in Bobcat Goldthwait's 2005 film "Sleeping Dogs Lie"? How is one supposed to respond to it? By lauding it? By providing it with a lukewarm response? By despising it and turning off five minutes in? I would certainly recommend the film, but to whom? And how? For sure, what is admirable about "Sleeping Dogs Lie" is its refreshing amount of self-confidence, in spite of its level of budgeting; it is also periodically funny and possesses a surprisingly rich palette of characterisation in the supporting department. But what to really MAKE of any of it?

Thematically, "Sleeping Dogs Lie" seems to want to be about the past and the secrets from years, even decades, gone by which one might harbour; but also how one responds to the fact one possesses these secrets and, more broadly, how they impact on life once they've been shared. One character, for instance - a woman who was a bit of a floozy in the 1960's who slept around with rock stars - is now a rock-solid Christian in her middle age. For sure, the film covers some fairly repugnant ground when it unearths the things people '...are not proud of', but this is not an exploitation film and possesses too much brain to merely dismiss off the bat.

In a broader context, the film is about the impact of the societal reforms of the 1960's and its effect on the generations born into the wake of them, but it is about these things without necessarily reaching a conclusion on them, never-mind attacking them. Amongst the many things (what some would refer to as poisons) that characterise the western world today, people smoke drugs; women undergo abortions; many engage in pre-marital sex and many other poor souls are addicted to all manner of nasty vices. It is along these lines that the film's defining event takes place when, alone in her university dorm room ten years ago, Amy (Melinda Page Hamilton) performs a sex act - but an act performed on someone very specific whom it would be both too coarse to actually put down into words right here AND be unfair on the grounds it would spoil the surprise...

The burning question is as to why she did it; indeed, why would it even cross a sane individual's mind that they might try such a thing? It is not a question even she can answer - she just couldn't resist... The film does not venture particularly deeply into these waters, either because it is not depicting people who are aware of the West's Cultural Revolution or because the makers of the film don't want to look at themselves for too long in the mirror. It concludes that it was, in her own words, a moment of madness and since she was alone and no one has since been told, the event passed into a form of personal mythology as the years progressed.

In the current year, Amy is a nursery school teacher and gets engaged to John (Bryce Johnson), but her old secret is beginning to gnaw away at her and she can't help but tease herself at addressing it. At work during break, she sits and talks with a male co-worker about honesty in a relationship and sexual turn-on's in a room which gloriously juxtaposes their conversation with Kindergarten mise-en-scene that includes stuffed animals and the ridiculously low table at which they sit.

Misleadingly, Goldthwait moves the film on to a weekend at Amy's parent's house, where we foolishly assume the film is actually all about John's having to win them over as the man fit to wed their daughter; done so via the introduction of her no-nonsense father and her rock-solid Christian mother. Present in the house is Amy's meth-head brother, who seems to be making his very own little life-mistake right in front of our eyes. Still prickling away at Amy, however, is her big secret. But the film isn't really about John's trials and tribulations at the hands of these people, instead merely using it as a base to unearth more about Amy - the twist Goldthwait pulls in his inverting of John with Amy as being the butt of this particular gauntlet is quite striking and worthy of some praise.

What the film turns into from here is fairly standard in the narrative sense: the lead tackles relationship troubles; friends in other places are there to help out and familiar faces re-enter their life to offer convenient salvation. The film seems to conclude, on the one hand, that the social evils which lurk around every corner of this new-fangled world can only lead to the damaging of one's life and the alienation of those we love, although tantalisingly tries to have it both ways when it refuses Amy any kind of closure on having somebody accept her for who she is and what she did.

Perhaps the film's trump card is the way it tackles its subject matter when compared to many other (mostly teen orientated) sex comedies, which are just too keen to throw sexualised humour and bodily function-orientated jokes at you for 90 minutes without a care in the world. In "Sleeping Dogs Lie", everybody who hears about 'the act' seems to conclude it was a hideous and disgusting thing to do - in some instances, entire scenes are dedicated to them sitting down and talking about it - but when a character consumes dog excrement in "American Pie: The Wedding", however, nobody blinks. In Goldthwait's film, these zany scenarios and spontaneous acts affect relations and actually impact on people's lives. As a result, people are forced into philosophising on them - no one can really move on until they've digested it. I would recommend the film, and don't keep anything back from anyone when they ask you what you thought of it...(!)

Bob Goldthwait? Interesting...

Once you get past the "disgusting thing", this movie makes you think about how honest we are with those we love. How much information is too much? Is withholding something the same as lying? Do we really need to share everything with someone in order to be close with them? Does someone need to know everything about you to truly love you?

I thought it was well written and acted. I don't recall seeing Melinda Page Hamilton before this, but I thought she was great. Her parents also did a good job with their roles.

I'd watch it again.

You fall in love. You know, you get that really special feeling, an amazing connection . . . ? "This could be the one," you say, "I feel I could tell this person anything." Total love, total honesty, total forgiveness. Unconditional.

Not!! Don't see this film with your fiancé, see it on your own . . .

Sleeping Dogs Lie is not standard rom-com, a tidy melodrama, or a gross-out comedy. It second-guesses the audience with its unconventional examination of relationships and the ideas we maybe too easily take for granted. Like the emotional headbanger movie, Closer, you will perhaps want time to think of the answers to give your beloved before they ask questions based on this movie. The best time to analyse relationships is when you're not in one. The second best time, as our intelligent, pretty, 26yr old protagonist discovers, is when you're learning from your past mistakes.

Amy (Melinda Page Hamilton) is fairly sure that John is the guy for her. They reach the, "Tell me something you've never told anyone else" stage. Yes, we're talking sexual things. But not on screen - just verbal and emotional. Trouble is, Amy is worried John won't love her if she tells him of her dark teenage misdemeanour.

If you have done something bad, that didn't hurt anyone else, you didn't intend any harm, and no-one found out, is telling your other half part of that 'total honesty' equation? Sharing feels good (selfish, but OK). Telling them before they find out from someone else is probably good tactics (selfish really, from fear, or at best protecting trust). But love for the other person isn't technically part of it. Not that you believe that. Amy goes for trial and error. John gives her a 'skeleton' and she wimps out. She gives him a made-up confession that he finds a turn on. For now.

When someone else finds out it might be accidental - but it can come back to haunt. Honesty involves more than intellectual decision. What if your mind 'forgives' someone but your sexual urge doesn't? And if you get the moral high ground, will that tempt you to lie so as to keep it? The film's resolution works on a 'minimising hurt to others' idea, which is quite convincing. Am I going to tell you Amy's secret? No - cos if I do, it will give you the wrong idea of the film, and it's in the first reel anyway.

This is a low budget movie ($50,000) that was very well received at the Sundance and San Sebastian film festivals. Acting is excellent, but the characters are not always very rounded and it is too uneven, uncategorisable a film for general viewing. Audience distance is made even greater by use of techniques like contrasting music ("When You're Smiling"' plays as they drive through miserable silence). I was about to get bored with it, but was already wondering if it was taking an avant-garde approach rather than being just an amateurish mainstream film. It comes very close to the bone when characters 'demand' that the object of their 'love' is 'honest' with them. (Do you have the right to insist on information about that part of someone's life that doesn't concern you?) The dilemmas are reflected into other relationships. Amy has to attend a funeral (she has fallen out with her Father - "I need you to love me, Daddy"), and needs a cigarette. "I didn't want you to know I knew," her father says.

Sleeping Dogs Lie may seem slapdash or tedious if you don't buy into the cerebral and emotional challenge. If you do, you may find it, as I did, quite edifying as well - as heartbreakingly poignant.

This was my first Sundance Film Festival movie. It was surprisingly funny...the acting was great and it was refreshing to see an original story...and this one has definite shock factor. Bob Goldthwaite definitely has a twisted mind and braves bringing it to the screen. If you get the opportunity to view this movie...go for it. However it most certainly is not for young people. The conservative will need to be willing to open their minds to a sense of humor even though acceptance will be an impossible feat for pretty much anyone. The irony of the movie is how real the fear of exposing your deepest, darkest secrets to anyone, including the person you are closet to and love most in the entire world. I still say....some things are meant to stay secret!

The opening scene might be quite disgusting and disturbing to some, but if you can get past that, the film is actually enjoyable. (I am not going to disclose the nature of the act, even though I see now that my local paper has given it away!!) Let's just say that the title takes on a double meaning after you see the opening act.*NOTE: now the title is "Sleeping Dogs Lie." When I wrote this, it was called "Stay."

I was one of the lucky ticketholders who got to see this at Sundance...Bob Goldthwaite was at our Salt Lake screening, which we appreciated very much (many filmmakers don't bother with the locals). He warned us before the show started that people may want to walk out at the beginning; and to be honest, I may have left had I not heard him talk about the movie first. One of the things I liked about the movie is that it acknowledges throughout that "the act" is wrong and sick, not socially acceptable, and hard to get past.

I am very glad we stayed. I appreciated so many things about this film. The script was very well written, and the story was compelling. Amy's parents are not portrayed as buffoons, even though they are conservative; her mother especially is shown to be very human and forgiving; her father is perceptive and caring. Goldthwait didn't just go for cheap laughs; this movie actually has something to say.

This movie isn't really about the sexual indiscretion, it's about the nature of "truth" and whether or not people are entitled to know ALL of the bad things you have ever done. If a person has moved on, changed their ways, etc. etc, then some things are better left unsaid, and this movie illustrated that beautifully. If you can get past the first scene (which actually leaves the "act" to the viewer's imagination!), it's really a very well done and surprisingly sweet film.