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Sam Hearn and Richard Penfold's film is deceptively simple: a series of
dreamlike images of a man walking his dog are complemented with an amusing
voiceover, as if spoken by the dog. But within its 4 minutes, Dog Years is able
to touch on some of the most profound issues surrounding our love of pets.
Shot under the 'The Joy of 8' filmmaking initiative, the filmmakers made the
film under certain restrictions: in-camera editing, non-synchronised sound and
unseen by them until the opening night. Despite this, Dog Years pulls off something of
an aesthetic coup. The film starts with an unrelated sound and image track - the
commentary is general and has very little to do with the images we see. So it is
a startling moment when the dog starts to comment on the action (his master
throwing a stick). The dreamlike abstraction of the images suddenly morph into
documentary and, significantly, we are forced to witness the dog starting to
drown. The audience is jolted into a fearful moment that taps into our complex
compassion for pets - a remarkable achievement given the film's supposed £5 budget.
Penfold and Hearn followed Dog Years with Dog Years 2 - Health (2006) another riff on the Joy of 8 format, but have since moved onto longer productions, including the TCM award winning short Leaving (2008).
Dylan Cave
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Complete Film (3:48)
