Heart of A Dog (2015) - Laurie Anderson

Laurie Anderson's Heart of A Dog is an impressionistic meditation on death, life, and humanity, which is deeply personal but also universally compelling.  An experimental documentary of sorts, much of the film is about the reflection Laurie Anderson has about the death of her beloved dog, mother, and husband.  Using still photography, hand drawings, and moving image, Heart of Dog creates an existential experience that is a bonafide work of art in the truest sense of the word.  The segments about Anderson's relationship with her dog are some of the most compelling, not just because dogs are wonderful, but because it captures how a dogs' uncompromising, unconditional love was a major component of helping Anderson through her past emotional trauma. The relationship between love & death is a major aspect of Heart of A Dog, confronting the viewer about the nature of grief and guilt, arguing that at its core it's a selfish construct.  Heart of A Dog argues that the cycle of life and death is profoundly important to grasping love, showing how death shapes individuals for their rest of their lives and can even give them a purer understanding of the love they shared.  Conjuring up imagery of 9/11 and waxing poetic about the ever growing surveillance in America, Heart of A Dog isn't a political film by any means, but it uses this imagery and ideas to make a point about humanity as a whole.  To that point, Heart of Dog's greatest attribute is how it captures the arrogance of humanity.  We, as a species, like to think we have control, and what this film does so well through its meditation on life and death is reveal simply how little control we have and how little we truly understand about the world around us.  While Anderson's film is obviously deals with serious issues, the tone of the film is surprisingly light-hearted, all things considered, with Anderson injecting a nice undercurrent of comedy throughout the film's running time, showing a sense of humor even when discussing such series topics as love, death, and grief.  Laurie Anderson's Heart of A Dog is not a film for everyone, being an intellectual meditation on humanity that captures how little control any of us have in this world.  

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