A Living Dog

It's hard to write a review for this movie because it's hard to figure out why A Living Dog works as well as it does. One minor question that I haven't yet sorted out is why it's called "A Living Dog." There is a living dog who makes a very brief appearance in silhouette only but I guess that the movie name has additional meaning. I think one thing that is very interesting is that movie transcends the cliches it references and employs: the "Terminator Machines" and the apocalypse details are referenced with brief "yada yada yada" nods. We are given just enough info to "get the lowdown". So the movie ultimately transcends it's own plot, doesn't get caught up in it's own details. It actually has a kinship in my humble opinion with The Verdict (1982) directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Paul Newman. The male protagonist is a kind of silent Frank Galvin character reciting to himself "There are no other cases, this is the case."

A shaky, earthy, rough and true piece of Indie-cinema - with one condition: You have to like giant killer robots! ;)

I appreciate and support newb filmmakers (of which they aren't entirely new), even more when their film is independently funded, but there's no excuse for such long dragged out nonsense in the lazy writing.

It was just once scene after the other of the exact same nonsense - running, hiding, laser rays, repeat. The normally just-right 94 min runtime felt like almost 3 hours with the long dragged out and mostly unnecessary scenes, and the slow pacing. Aside from this story being told so many times before - all much better, there was just way too much filler and very little substance. Had this been chopped down to a 15 min or so short film, it would've shined, and made the dialogue-less 94 min runtime more bearable. I get that the machines have great hearing, but I doubt it was better than the aliens in "A Quiet Place", so being in a basement with nothing in sight for miles and zero dialogue, is lazy writing imo. Giving the viewer all this filler and expecting them to do all your work to figure out what's going on, in place of dialogue, is writing I'd expect from a 5th grade drama class. Never mind the cringeworthy plot and technical issues. Again, lack of funding is no excuse for lazy and sloppy writing.

What this film did have going for it, was an great score and excellent cinematography. The aerial views were all on point, but the irrelevant sudden shots of flower, bugs on the ground, etc, was just amateur directing and the cherry on top for the wasted whipped cream filler. The "machines" looked decent on the screen for the most part, but those CGI explosions and laser beams were a laughable 1970's quality. Even the editing (was there any?) was horrible. So never mind the current four reviews of 7, 8, 9 and 10/10 (hmm, I see a pattern), this is a very generous 5/10 from me.

I had the chance to watch this movie during the Landsberg film-festival "snow dance". It is a low-budget movie which surprises with realistic animations and strong film-music/sounds.

The setting is quickly told: robots and drones have taken over the world and are hunting any living human. Our hero has managed to survive and escaped into a wooden-house in the North. There he meets a female survivor who is trying to fight the robots.

The movie lives from the atmosphere and the beautiful shots. There is little talk since any talk would attract the robots. The relationship between the main actors also remains quite superficial.

Expect a dense atmosphere, with few moments where you can escape from this apocalyptic future by diving into relaxing nature-shots of Finland's' forests and lakes.

Also great screenplay and acting. (Only the last minutes felt a bit stretched...)

No dialog is the main reason why this movie is hard to watch. The story could be told in five minutes but instead it is dawn out to an overly long turgid drama. The special effects are the best bit of the whole thing. The premise that the machines are pretty stupid or blind to humans is totally ludicrous.. i stuck it out to the end but it just felt like a total waste of time. Acting, such as it is, is mediocre, storyline is poor, cinematography is ok. It is obvious that this is a low budget movie where all of the money had to be spent on the special effects. Probably best avoided - you have been warned!