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Derek Malcolm's rating
Letter of complaint from Weber
By
Derek Malcolm
31 Jul 2008
This is the third Bruce Weber movie, after Let’s Get Lost and Chop Suey, to be screened in London recently, and one of the most nostalgic and ephemeral. This time it’s a tribute to his beloved dogs, including True, a golden retriever who sits with his master on elephants. In Weber’s hands, this turns into a nostalgic memory bank of his life and an ancillary complaint about American foreign policy and the profound effect of 9/11. Dogs, he says, are a metaphor for peace and hope in the world.
If you think that’s a trifle naïve, the film still makes some fetching viewing, not just because of the dogs, who are indeed wonderful, but because Dirk Bogarde, at his home in Provence, Elizabeth Taylor and others are remembered fondly as well.
Excerpts from Lassie movies, Doris Day songs and narration from Julie Christie and Marianne Faithfull are elegantly put together and often fascinating just as a microcosm of one man’s personality and life.
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