Movie Review

Channing Tatum and earnest story make for a very good Dog

Lulu and Channing Tatum in Dog.

Photo by Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/SMPSP

Movies dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, have a long history, going back at least to 1946’s Oscar-winning The Best Years of Our Lives. Some films address the symptoms of PTSD in subtle ways, and others are more overt about the after-effects of war, including mental anguish, drug abuse, violence, and more.

The new film Dog finds a nice middle ground, helped greatly by its unusual story. Channing Tatum plays Briggs, a former Army Ranger who was forced off active duty because of a traumatic brain injury. He’s still a military lifer, though, begging his commanding officer to recommend him for a position that would put him close to the action again.

When fellow Ranger Riley Rodriguez dies, Briggs is promised that recommendation if he will drive Lulu — a Belgian Malinois dog with which Rodriguez was paired in the Army — from Oregon to Arizona for his funeral. Like Briggs, though, Lulu is dealing with her own past trauma and acts out in various, sometimes aggressive, ways.

Co-directed by Tatum and Reid Carolin (the writer of the Magic Mike movies) and written by Carolin and Brett Rodriguez, the film takes what could have been your typical schmaltz and instead makes it very affecting. There’s little doubt about where the film is heading, but because Briggs and Lulu have a tenuous bond that could shatter at any moment, the film holds a tension that other films dealing with animals usually do not.

What’s surprising about the short, 90-minute film is how much care Carolin and Rodriguez take with the story. There are a couple of goofy subplots involving some New Age-y Oregonians that Briggs runs into, but overall the story has a genuine earnestness that proves irresistible. A couple of the detours on the road trip make a big impact on the story’s effectiveness, especially a reunion with Lulu’s brother and his handler/owner (Ethan Suplee).

Although Briggs has various human interactions along the way, it’s his relationship with Lulu that makes the film work. Tatum doesn’t have a reputation as a great actor, but he makes the most of the emotional heavy lifting he’s required to do in the film. The dog, of course, is the other key component, and she has a lot of great moments in the film, especially as the film nears its end.

You could make a lot of jokes about the star and writer of Magic Mike teaming up to make their directorial debuts, but they have the last laugh with Dog. It’s a highly watchable, well-told story that takes a fresh look at the fallout of war without losing its charm.

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Dog is now playing in theaters.

Movie Review

Daniel Craig searches for elusive new bond in audacious film Queer

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

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