Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

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hearthesilence
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#201 Post by hearthesilence » Thu Apr 19, 2018 12:20 pm

Hah, well, I had a dog, for 17 long years, and one thing I liked about the film were the parts that did NOT sentimentalize what a dog can be like. (Maybe it's the same thing that drove some of the more idiotic histrionic tweets against this film.) "Man's best friend," sure, but dogs can be real assholes and pretty damn disgusting.

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Boosmahn
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#202 Post by Boosmahn » Thu Apr 19, 2018 1:20 pm

Did he (Adejuyigbe) even see the movie?! "Isle of Dogs" was pretty fair in its treatment of the dogs, from my cat-person perspective.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#203 Post by mfunk9786 » Thu Apr 19, 2018 1:27 pm

He did see it. His issue as I understand it was that its approach to the dogs was kind of gruesome-for-laughs, and that the only female dogs were a sexy one and a mute one, and that definitely jumped out to me when I saw it.

The film would have been better if it excised the entirety of the Tracy plotline and just focused on fleshing out the island, giving us a better look at their personalities and making them less one-note punchines. Fantastic Mr. Fox did a good job of making its characters feel more than just one-dimensional, this film did not.

Anderson's entire filmography does scream "fuck dogs," though. Still don't see what's wrong with that tweet. As someone who doesn't particularly care for dogs myself, even I see that clear as day. He enjoys the little moments of shock or awe he can create with animal cruelty - Goldblum with the dog in The Life Aquatic, Dafoe with the cat in The Grand Budapest Hotel, any number of murdered or maimed dogs... Isle of Dogs certainly has better feelings about them on the whole, but it's still not necessarily a love letter.

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Boosmahn
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#204 Post by Boosmahn » Thu Apr 19, 2018 1:53 pm

I agree with you on that, though: Isle of Dogs doesn't flesh out its characters nearly as much as Anderson's other films. The only real connection I felt is with Atari and Chief, while everything else was touched on but not fully explored.

Wes has a good amount of animals being harmed in his movies (like you said, Life Aquatic, Grand Budapest Hotel, etc.), but I'm not fully convinced that he has a hatred of animals. All directors have their trademarks. Anderson's are just... different.

Plus, animals are a pretty easy source of sentimentality. A character harming them can clearly show the evil they can exhibit (Dafoe in Grand Budapest, particularly) or give other characters a chance to mourn, showing their softer side.
Last edited by Boosmahn on Thu Apr 19, 2018 1:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Brian C
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#205 Post by Brian C » Thu Apr 19, 2018 1:54 pm

A fair number of them kill or maim people, too. Maybe he just hates all life.

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Mr Sausage
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#206 Post by Mr Sausage » Thu Apr 19, 2018 2:01 pm

Anderson doesn’t sentimentalize animals, but I can’t see that his films show an active dislike of them any more than, say, Watership Down shows a hatred of rabbits. He just doesn’t use animals to make the world seem more safe.

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whaleallright
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#207 Post by whaleallright » Thu Apr 19, 2018 2:58 pm

Luke M wrote:movie about dogs made by someone who’s never had a dog.
I'm not convinced that Isle of Dogs is "about" dogs in the way that, maybe, even a film like Lassie Come Home is about a dog (albeit sentimentalized). The dogs in this film mostly behave like humans, as they do in many other films. I noted above that I was surprised that the dogs in Anderson's movie didn't greet each other by sniffing butts, which if he had set out to make a film about dogs, would constitute a major oversight. I have to admit I was disappointed with this aspect of the film (that the dogs were thoroughly anthropomorphized, that is. Although I wished there was butt-sniffing, too.)

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#208 Post by Michael Kerpan » Thu Apr 19, 2018 3:14 pm

hearthesilence wrote:Hah, well, I had a dog, for 17 long years, and one thing I liked about the film were the parts that did NOT sentimentalize what a dog can be like.
Our last dog also made it to 17 years old. Never had to deal with a "senior" dog before (and our cat made it to 20). We haven't had any other pets since ...

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hearthesilence
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#209 Post by hearthesilence » Thu Apr 19, 2018 3:48 pm

My dog wasn't fully mobile during the last few years, and over time it was kind of like caring for a senior member of the family who's physically deteriorating. I won't go into the more unpleasant details, but if you've had to care for the elderly in that way, you'll know what I mean.

Honestly, I don't expect an anthropomorphized dog film to show everything about dogs, and doing so might overwhelm certain viewers in a way that would go against the director's wishes, especially those who never had pets. When we got our dog, my family had to "accept" things that were completely intolerable before, particular when he was being housebroken.

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Luke M
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#210 Post by Luke M » Thu Apr 19, 2018 4:28 pm

I appreciate the anthropomorphism of the dogs and I think that makes the movie easier to swallow in some ways. But it robs whatever power there is of the sentimental moments. Whenever there was talk about dogs being “man’s best friend” the moment felt shallow. It seems like Anderson wants the dogs as Goofy when they’re together and Pluto when they’re with humans. It didn’t really work.

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whaleallright
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#211 Post by whaleallright » Sat May 05, 2018 4:35 pm

Just wanted to note that the newest issue of Little White Lies is mostly about this film and adjacent phenomena (dogs in film, animation, etc.).

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mfunk9786
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#212 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon May 07, 2018 3:11 am

Saw this again and largely stand by what I originally wrote, although I am less concerned about the cultural stuff this time around than I am the fact that it’s intensely intricate and left me mostly cold anyway. There is so much stuff packed into this movie that it serves to almost physically exhaust the viewer, and by the time the underdeveloped moments that comprise the final 5 or 10 minutes are happening, I practically wanted to leap out of my seat and leave the theater, just because enough was enough.

One thing I didn’t give it enough credit for the first time around - this is one of the most visually rich and captivating films ever made. Some of the incredible work from the set designers and puppeteers is just... eye-popping. Very few moments in Isle of Dogs go by without making your eyeballs bulge - it’s all so exacting and careful and stunning. Makes me even more frustrated that it all feels so emotionally fraudulent. Every time this film that is largely comprised of imagery of battered and bruised and blemished dogs goes into its 9th or 10th riff on the “dogs are incredible, guys” thesis, it feels even more rote than the time before. You can tell when Wes Anderson’s whole heart is in his work, and this film leaves me unconvinced that he cares all that much about dogs - which, I mean, okay... but part of the charm of so much of his work is the passion behind it. To use the prior film as an example, The Grand Budapest Hotel: I would rather see Anderson make ten more films about the value of havens of societal politeness than even one more film about how great dogs are. Maybe it’s because there was so much that seemed authentic about the former concept while the latter was, well, overstuffed and undercooked.

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#213 Post by Michael Kerpan » Mon May 07, 2018 4:22 pm

mfunk -- I suspect we shall have to agree to violently disagree. ;-)

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movielocke
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#214 Post by movielocke » Tue May 08, 2018 2:11 am

While I like to love most Anderson films, this one misfired for me the way life aquatic did (the only other Anderson film I didn’t like). I’m not going to get into any cultural stuff, I’m not an expert there, but the exchange student is a terrible character and subplot although she is refreshingly loud and exciting, unfortunately the rest of the film is kind of dull and often boring.

Oh it is visually delightful to look at such endless lovingly crafted apocalyptic grotesqueries, but it goes on and on and on and on until your eyes give up and your brain is exhausted, then the other eighty minutes play out.

It’s just a bad film. Pretty, but it didn’t work for me.

John Shade
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#215 Post by John Shade » Thu May 10, 2018 5:24 am

I've followed Anderson pretty closely throughout his career--he's probably my favorite living American director (like others Rushmore was a gateway to film for me; Rushmore was my Rushmore). That being said there's something about what mfunk is saying that I slightly agree with, though I'm not sure how we prove it. While I really enjoyed Isle of Dogs, the so-called spark or inspiration behind it just doesn't seem on the level of his previous two films. Yes, this is lovingly made, impecabbly or just impossibly crafted film, but I'm not entirely convinced about his love for these dogs either; just compare them to the two central characters from the previous two films. The homage to Japanese culture seems mostly sincere, but I had hardly ever heard Anderson reference Kurosawa before this one, even as I still I think Isle will hold up as some pseudo American Miyazaki stopmotion extravaganza. Meanwhile, upon its release critics were refreshing their old negative reviews of the misinterpreted Darjeeling. What works so well in that film, however, is a strong focus on three characters, along with (pardon the pun) Anderson's narrow formalism getting derailed in an interesting back and forth. Ray works as a much clearer influence on that film and fits with Anderson's atmosphere. This isn't to say that he should've considered making an animated film set in France with loving references to Renoir, but maybe...?

Anyway, I still eagerly look forward to a second viewing. This one came and went where I live. It doesn't seem to have the legs of Moonrise Budapest. Does anyone know yet the reaction from Japanese critics and audiences?

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whaleallright
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#216 Post by whaleallright » Thu May 10, 2018 8:13 pm

he's referenced Kurosawa a lot (I specifically recall him praising High and Low and I Live in Fear). About Miyazaki, Anderson's commitment to central-conflict theory and to shapely "arcs" for his protagonists strikes me as a very un-Miyazaki. despite all the flashbacks, Anderson's narratives tend to proceed in a straight line from their initial premises, while Miyazaki's films often reinvent themselves every reel (or more often).

I have to degree with the above comments that finds something lacking about the story, even as the film rewards repeated viewings via its dense mise-en-scène. there didn't seem to me to be the kind of character-based grace notes in this film that were present in the last two. what I imagine was intended to be the central emotional arc of the film—the bonding b/t Atari and Chief—felt a little rote.

to my knowledge the film hasn't opened in Japan yet.

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Ribs
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#217 Post by Ribs » Fri May 25, 2018 8:55 pm

It's looking like the UHD release of this has been scrapped

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mfunk9786
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#218 Post by mfunk9786 » Sat May 26, 2018 11:29 am

Certainly doesn't bode well for digital 4K...

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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#219 Post by John Shade » Tue May 29, 2018 11:46 am

Would have been an interesting case where the 4K was released first and then criterion would presumably release a blu ray three or four years later...

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mfunk9786
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#220 Post by mfunk9786 » Sun Jul 08, 2018 5:54 pm

I know you all love when I provide hot UHD updates on this film (it never results in threadsplits or anything) but I have a tip for the small handful of users who want to be able to watch this movie in the highest available quality.

There are currently two services that offer this movie in UHD: FandangoNOW, which charges $29.99 to be able to buy it in that quality level, and iTunes, which charges the same price for both 1080p and UHD, $19.99. That's it. No VUDU, no Google Play, etc. All those only offer 1080p.

This movie is eligible for Movies Anywhere. Which means, if you have both a FandangoNOW and iTunes account linked to the same Movies Anywhere account, you can (I just tested this and it's working like a charm!) pay $19.99 to buy it in iTunes, and then turn around and stream it in UHD from FandangoNOW (which, if you don't own an AppleTV, is going to be much more ideal). So, boom, save $10 on what FandangoNOW is charging, and get to watch this movie at home in the highest quality possible despite the studio's best efforts.

If the above looks like absolute gobbelty gook to you - just be glad you're a normie who doesn't care about your maxing out your streaming & disc resolution. As it currently stands, the whole process is pretty hellish. But Movies Anywhere is an awesome service - it could be much worse.

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perkizitore
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#221 Post by perkizitore » Sun Jul 08, 2018 9:38 pm

This is really inconvenient, now I have to wait for an iTunes sale.
Last edited by perkizitore on Mon Jul 09, 2018 6:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#222 Post by mfunk9786 » Sun Jul 08, 2018 9:43 pm

Yeah, especially because no physical release is going to come with a UHD code.

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perkizitore
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#223 Post by perkizitore » Sun Jul 08, 2018 10:32 pm

I forgot this is with Fox, the only way to get 4K is to buy from the retailer directly, even if there was a UHD release the code would redeem in HD.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#224 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Jul 09, 2018 12:58 am

Good to know for the future. Brave new world we're in.

John Shade
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Re: Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018)

#225 Post by John Shade » Mon Jul 09, 2018 4:28 pm

Old world guy here sticking with the blu ray and inevitably shilling out more later for a Criterion version which won't look that much different but will at least have an Anderson commentary which is often hit or miss.

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