Ah the dog movie. We’ve used all types of dogs in movies. For the 40s kids it was Lassie. 70s, Benji. 90’s, Shadow (THE GOAT). And the last one was Marley. Time will tell if Apollo will become the next movie dog. At least he’s The Friend to Naomi Watts, hanging out in a city as big as he is.
Famous writer/teacher Walter (Bill Murray) has just passed away. Attending the funeral are his daughter Val (Sarah Pidgeon), wife #1 Elaine (Carla Gugino), homewrecker/Walter’s best friend Iris (Naomi Watts), wife #2 Tuesday (Constance Wu), and Walter’s widow Barbara (Noma Dumezweni). After things quiet down, Barbara invites Iris over to inform her that Walter had a dog named Apollo…and his last wishes were for Iris to take guardianship of the dog. That incredible manipulation forces Iris into temporary stewardship over Apollo until she can rehome him, drawing issues with property manager Hektor (Felix Solis) of a dog free apartment complex.
On the surface it’s clear what Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s goal is. The guiding light of “dogs are sad too” paints Apollo in the most heartbreaking scenes for long stretches of time. He’ll wail and whimper at the door, waiting for Iris’s best friend to walk in. He’ll lay, unmoving, on Iris’s bed, under Walter’s old shirt that still smells like him. I know, just like my theater did, with all sorts of tissues and sniffles every 10 minutes. As time goes on, that sad dog slowly gets happier, rising up like a giant out into New York City. Oh, and not like green screen NYC. Real, beautiful spots in Dumbo and on the Hudson, walking though Washington Square Park. The movie’s almost shot like a romance, as Iris and Apollo understand each other and get over their grief together.
Besides our big fragile great Dane, Naomi Watts is the reason to see this movie. She hasn’t been this good in years. It’s a completely internal performance; she plays Iris like those friends everyone wishes they had. On the surface they’re constantly lifting up others and making everyone’s lives more livable, sometimes at the expense of their own. Watts shows us that person’s internal struggle, and how frustrated she feels at being taken advantage of yet again, and still finding a way to find the good in the situation, even though it might take a little more work. It’s wonderfully nuanced, empathetic work, and I would have loved to just see a movie about her and the women around Walter, giving the other great actresses more chances to shine as much as Watts does here.
Yes, The Friend is about manufactured first world problems (except death) and has 9,000 endings. But there’s just something about Naomi Watts and a Great Dane walking below the Brooklyn Bridge that’s just gonna push past the movie’s trappings. Let this be a lesson to the big city filmmakers. If you have a film about rich problems, just shoot on location in the real world: at worst your film is a travelogue to the city you love.