Review of Heart of a Dog (2015) by Andrewburge — 01 Oct 2018

There are better films than Laurie Anderson's 'Heart of a Dog'. But no other film packs such a condensed initial emotional punch. It is personal, so intimate yet so ambitious, and keeps its acute focus despite transitioning through so many subjects. All relevant, all mysterious and all scary.

First of all, Laurie Anderson is a performance and visual artist. And while its easy to smirk at its apparent self-indulgence and pretentiousness, every single word she utters is delivered with a perfectly balanced wry, never delving into satire, but most importantly, never victimizing herself. It is extremely empowering seeing a Septuagint widow baring her soul and focusing on remembering so many dark moments: the deaths of her husband Lou Reed and her apparently estranged mother, the downward spiral life and eventual death of her loved rat terrier Lolabelle, her near-fatal accident jumping in a pool, the world-changing 9/11 attacks and mostly her most twisted and deepest fantasies.

One of these, being right at the beginning, where she describes having "engineered" Lolabelle to be put into her stomach so that she could give birth to it. She is aware how sick that is, but she does not care. Every single word, musical hum and story she says is carefully written. She hides her desperation in her controlled tone, yet she is fascinated with death studying Buddhism, searching understatement and closure in old philosophies and eventually realizing that peace comes when you stop focusing on yourself. Indeed, there are no proper conclusions about life, death and love, because the truth is we do not know anything.

All in all, this is one of those films which simply want you to experience art in its purest form. The entire soundtrack is basically the film converted in audio format. It goes to show that Anderson is committed to challenging herself and putting her art before anything. This is a great film, the soundtrack is a masterpiece.