Released: 3rd October
Seen: 25th November
Last year, I proclaimed that In A Violent Nature was the best film of the year (a claim I stand by, fight me). Part of what made that film so special was that it took a genre we all know pretty well, that being cheesy hyper-gory slasher films, and changed the perspective that we follow from the perspective of the future victims to the perspective of the slow-moving moving stumbling killer. It was such a simple shift that created a radically brilliant piece of art that kind of defied the rules of the genre by explaining the magic trick behind how they work. That simple idea of shifting the perspective of a story to a character that we don’t normally spend any time with really allows something familiar to feel exciting and new, and can allow for a really creative director to show off just what they can do. Good Boy is that kind of movie, taking a subgenre we know all too well and finding the most unique possible way to explore that genre that I’ve seen in a long damn time.
Good Boy follows Indy, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, who spends his days licking himself, playing ball, and generally being a good boy looking after his sick owner, Todd (Shane Jensen). How sick is Todd? Well, he was coughing up blood last night so that’s not a good sign. After another visit to the hospital, Todd decides to go spend time at his grandfather’s old house, thinking that the fresh air will do him some good and just generally wanting to try and have a little moment of normalcy among the bad days he’s experiencing thanks to his unnamed illness. Spoilers, turns out that Todd’s grandfather’s house is haunted by some creepy creature that he can’t see, but Indy definitely can, and all Indy wants to do is try to keep his favourite human as safe as possible because Indy isn’t just a good boy, Indy is the best boy.
Taking a haunted house movie and telling it from the perspective of a dog might be the smartest film concept that anyone has ever had, and I’m stunned no one has done it sooner. It’s the perfect concept, dogs don’t know what’s going on at the best of times, we all know that dogs think you’ve run away never to return when you just go to check the mailbox, so to have one experiencing a full-on haunting and allowing its reaction to take centre stage is a perfect idea. Of course, having a good idea is one thing, but it’s the execution that matters most in this kind of situation, so it’s a really good thing that Good Boy plays that idea as perfectly as one could hope.
There are absolutely no cheats to this concept; the film completely commits to the idea that this is from Indy’s perspective, and it never drops the ball even once. Every shot is low and looking up, the human faces are never really seen until one particularly climactic moment and the things that create the scares are the kind of things that would probably scare a dog the most, only played up as much as possible. It all goes to really put you in Indy’s adorable little doggy shoes and have you feel the intense emotions that this fluffy little hero is clearly feeling. You take on his hypervigilance, wanting to bark at the strange moving shadow in the corner of the room because it might scare away whatever evil is in this house.
The evil in the house is mostly presented as either a strange moving shadow or a mud-covered monster-man and it’s such a simple and effective way to present the haunting, it’s something that would freak a dog out and after a while, it will absolutely get underneath the audience’s skin. The tension building of this movie is some of the best that I’ve ever seen, partially because we all know if the dog is freaked out that it’s time to run and this dog gets freaked out so much that it’s stunning they didn’t just run as far as they could at the first sign of trouble… but then you remember that they’re staying to look after their sick owner and you remember why this film is called Good Boy, because Indy is a very good boy.
Indy also might just be one of the best actors that we’ve seen this year, the Oscar campaign for Indy the dog should have already started by now and if it hasn’t consider this the battle cry to get this dog to the ceremony. The performance that is delivered her deserves all the treats that Indy can handle, it’s actually kind of mindblowing to witness how perfect so many moments are. Indy hiding under the bed, their attempt to try and comfort their sick owner, their big hero moment right near the end, each moment is delivered with the kind of energy and gusto that most human actors couldn’t even begin to produce. I’m deadly serious, Indy delivers one of the best performances of the year and easily the best dog performance in recorded history. Lassie can go fuck themselves, we have a new iconic dog performer creating the standard.
Of course, Indy can only do so much, the rest of what makes Good Boy truly great is what the humans brought to it, namely the incredibly clever script and the top-notch visuals. “Haunted house movie, but from the POV of the dog” could be a joke in lesser hands, but here it’s one of the scariest films of the year because everyone took it seriously. The visuals are genuinely brilliant, every single frame is immaculately constructed to focus on Indy but also make sure the audience has all the info we need. So many shots are just gorgeous to look at (seriously, the shot of Indy looking out from under the bed that’s been in every trailer is so good that I want a poster of it for my wall!) and the various ways they found to give audience key information about Todd without ever showing his face in full is the stuff that a cinematographer dreams about. This film should be studied by film students who want to see an example of how to make a film look good on the cheap… also, it almost entirely takes place at night but also so well lit that you don’t miss a thing, turns out we can just do that so there are no excuses for badly lit night scenes. If the haunted dog movie can do it, anyone can.
Good Boy is a minor miracle of a film. It proves that a simple idea done well can make for something truly fascinating to watch, that you don’t need an insanely high budget to make a great film and that it’s absolutely impossible not to completely fall in love with a wide-eyed puppy just trying to do the right thing. It’s a short, effective little thrill ride that doesn’t overstay its welcome or overplay its core concept. It’s a good film about a good boy that deserves nothing but good things.
Movie Meister Reviews 