-Written by Kyle Bain.
When a young, silent man, on the verge of death is granted the opportunity to work–an opportunity to change his life, he soon finds that what he was promised was simply a lie. Dog Run is the story of Jan (Sid Phoenix), as he makes friends with a guard dog named Sabre (Lily McGrath). Sabre might just be the relationship Jan needs to escape from exploitation–it might just be the thing that saves him.
Slow and steady wins the race…or so they say. Dog Run, the title of this short film, is not indicative of its pacing, not in the slightest. The film plays out slowly, excruciatingly slow–though, as the film comes to a close, it does become apparent why. The slow development of the relationship between Jan and Sabre is effective, and, again, by the time the film comes to a close, it’s clear why Writer-Director Lorna Nickson Brown chooses to pace the film the way that she does–but that doesn’t change the fact that things developed too slowly for me. In a short film that’s just over twenty minutes in length, five minutes or so could have been trimmed from the final cut–and that’s significant.
Narratively there’s a lot to dissect here in Dog Run, there’s a lot to unpack–and some of it is just incomprehensible. This story is one that I’m incredibly unfamiliar with, one that really doesn’t make sense to me. Other than the bond created between Jan and Sabre, I can’t really understand what is happening. Why are homeless people being extorted? Why are they being given underpaying jobs in which they are seemingly unable to escape? Is this a thing that happens in the real world? I don’t have answers to any of these questions, and Dog Run doesn’t do anything to help viewers make sense of these things. If this is a reality for some people, it’s not one that I’ve ever heard of before. I struggled to make sense of the narrative, and that made it difficult for me to appreciate other aspects of the film.
With that being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the relationship between Jan and Sabre. Who doesn’t love dogs? I know there are people out there shouting “me, me!,” and I mean this in the nicest way possible: you’re crazy. This relationship is one that nearly everyone has the potential to understand, and that’s what allows Dog Run to find success. I was able to connect with Jan in these moments, as Phoenix’s performance is phenomenal; he brings to life substantial amounts of emotion that transcend the entirety of the film.
Toward the end of the short film, viewers see the dirty Jan and underfed Sabre plastered against a lush, green field. Twice viewers see this, and in both instances, Dog Run peaks. The film had been nothing more than pain and suffering up to this point, with no opportunity for viewers to relax or decompress–but Brown gives viewers something to juxtapose the harrowing feeling of helplessness that transcends the film. We are given something that sheds a glimmer of light, an ounce of hope on the film–and we end on a high note.
Regardless of how the film ends, Dog Run is still a painstakingly slow film that takes far too long to develop. It feels like, by the time we get to the end of the film, things have been developed nicely, but Dog Run needed to develop at a quicker rate. I can’t get past that–as I felt myself struggling to remain focused. Again, the narrative is one that seems so wild to me, that I couldn’t quite get on board. I’m not sure that Dog Run ever redeems itself, even if there are moments of brilliance throughout.
Written & Directed by Lorna Nickson Brown.
Starring Sid Phoenix, Paula Wharton, Lily McGrath, Martin Kennedy, Caroline Gray, etc.
5.5/10 = WORTH THE RISK, BUT YOU’VE BEEN WARNED
