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Very fresh from watching Baxter and I'm still wrapping my mind around this stunning film. I had never heard of it until I read about it being one of John Waters' favorite films. Being his fan, I decided to neflix it and it turned out to be quite a surprise. An amazingly unique work, some parts told from a dog's perspective. No, it's nothing like Babe. It's extremely dark and unnerving and ultimately sad. Giving us a look into the horrible emotional alienation suffered by not only the dog but also a little boy who finds a hero in Hitler. I couldn't help laughing at the dog's thoughts of letting the baby drown in the pool - it's the most perfect piece of black comedy. The ending is incredibly disturbing but silencing at the same time. We're put in the little boy's position as he looks at a happy family making snow angels across the road from an empty house.

More thoughts will follow once Baxter calms down in my mind.

Crikey! Sounds like a movie that was tailor-made for my mind.

It's not a favourite of mine, but I admire its refusal to be unlike any typical doggy movie. Baxter's thoughts are those of someone completely unfettered by morality or social conscience. His philosophy is that of the pure unsentimental pragmatist. "How do I kill this woman who's annoying me?" "How do I get my master to respect me after he saw me shag that spaniel?" Not surprisingly he sees a soulmate in the neo-Nazi creep who adopts him.

The French DVD (the black digipak) is English subbed, and has an excellent transfer.

I've wanted to see it for a while thanks to the John Waters recommendation but was waiting for more reviews of the R1 DVD - how is it?

The R1 DVD looked fine to me. For anything wrong with it, I couldn't think of one. At times I thought it looked too bright but I'm not sure if that's supposed to be that way. Go get it.

I first saw this in high school, a double header with Man Bites Dog (whoops). I can't say any of us knew what we were in for, save the hilarious VHS cover, and as life-long lovers of Babe. It certainly left us all more creeped out than the faux extremism of MBD ever could, and I think we all bonded out of a quiet, shared horror from seeing it together. A few years ago I picked up the French edition, which is not too shabby, along with a copy of The Adventures of Milo & Otis, just to offset the sting. The menace remained all those years later, and I really was delighted to hear that Waters was/is forever a Baxter fan.

Boivin's follow-up, Confessions d'un Barjo, is not to be missed either, though I've had trouble finding a dvd anywhere. It's based on Philip K. Dick's Confessions of a Crap Artist, and is a little more light hearted, though no less well crafted than Baxter (and it even has a theme song!). But unfortunately, both these movies (especially Barjo) kind of got lumped into the quirky-French-Jeunet idiom of the rental shelves (see also: Leolo), sort of doomed from the get-go to be forgotten. It's too bad Boivin didn't make more non-TV based features; it seems like he was just getting started.

Kinsayder wrote:His philosophy is that of the pure unsentimental pragmatist.

A few years ago, I toyed with the idea of writing a work of philosophy from the viewpoint of a dog which would have the dog's photo on the back of the dust jacket. A forty-pager, tops. Vanity press, if need be.

A few years ago, I toyed with the idea of writing a work of philosophy from the viewpoint of a dog which would have the dog's photo on the back of the dust jacket. A forty-pager, tops. Vanity press, if need be.

More angry and/or contemplative animals are needed in the gift section of the bookstore to offset the ones with owners suffering from terminal physical deterioration and abject sappiness. Like Jackie Mason says, " (It's) Now or never!"

Person wrote:

Kinsayder wrote:His philosophy is that of the pure unsentimental pragmatist.

A few years ago, I toyed with the idea of writing a work of philosophy from the viewpoint of a dog which would have the dog's photo on the back of the dust jacket. A forty-pager, tops. Vanity press, if need be.

I would buy your book before my heart gives the next beat. So maybe watching Baxter would pull you back on that track.

Person wrote:A few years ago, I toyed with the idea of writing a work of philosophy from the viewpoint of a dog which would have the dog's photo on the back of the dust jacket. A forty-pager, tops. Vanity press, if need be.