The Movie: Beware of Dog
The Director: Nadia Bedzhanova
The Cast: Marina Vasileva, Buddy Duress, Paula Knüpling, Marina Prados, Kevin Iso, Pavel Tabakov
The Story: Three dramatic tales of people dealing with mental health interwoven in a way that shows how we are all the same in both our struggles and our triumphs.
The Review:
I liked this movie a lot. The characters are engaging, even when they are going through some serious shit. The three stories are individually fulfilling and, as an overlapping narrative, it all works beautifully so kudos to director Nadia Bedzhanova who is making her feature film debut with this movie. The production feels very polished and intricately put together and the level of intimacy that Bedzhanova provides allows you to fully invest in all of the emotions. The cast is a perfectly assembled roster of relatively unknowns and each of them delivers across the board.
Tackling mental health in the way that she does, Bedzhanova not only shows off an immense talent, it is also obvious that she understands the subject matter on a very personal level. Breaking down the affects of bi-polar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety, and addiction as authentically as she does would surely be no easy task and not one that most people would want to take on. Watching the movie, I learned a lot about the behaviors of the people dealing with these afflictions and was able to really see what was going on inside their heads as they are forced to deal with living life from that perspective.
This is definitely not a film that Hollywood studios would be jumping over each other to snap up for distribution and it is also the perfect movie that needs to be seen by as many people as possible. As I have been watching movies during the 2020 Slamdance film festival, this one has stood out head and shoulders above the rest and I really hope that this world premiere is just the beginning of a long run through festivals and eventual distribution on whatever platform it finds, I really don't care, I just want people to see this movie.
Beware of Dog is an official selection of the 2020 Slamdance Film Festival.
To keep track of all my reviews and festival coverage please go to: TwoOhSix at Slamdance 2020.
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