Lost and hound: Frisky ‘Friend’ has plenty of bite
What happens when man’s best friend moves in with a woman after her best man friend dies? That’s the premise of “The Friend,” the latest heart-tugging masterwork from the highly talented writing-directing team of Scott McGehee and David Siegel.
It fits perfectly into a sparkling oeuvre that includes “The Deep End,” “Montana Story,” and “What Maisie Knew,” all first-rate explorations of families in tumult. But this time, it’s not about parents and their screwed-up offspring. It’s about a woman with no kids at all. And Naomi Watts is perfection in a role in which her leading man is no less than Apollo. No, not the Greek god associated with healing, but a 150-pound Great Dane who desperately needs healing after his beloved companion kills himself.
Watts’ Iris could use curative treatment herself. She just doesn’t know it yet. Besides, she doesn’t have time to deal with her fragile emotions. She’s got Apollo to contend with. And it ain’t easy sharing a 500-square-foot Greenwich Village apartment with the massive mutt she’s had foisted upon her after their mutual best friend, Walter (Bill Murray), inexplicably takes his own life.
The comedic possibilities originating from a tiny woman having her peaceful life upended by a giant slobbering male speak for themselves. And McGehee and Siegel seldom falter at generating subtle laughs. But this is no “Beethoven.” It’s much smarter, more existential, thriving on an abundance of love and compassion in its revelation that canines are human, too.
Many assume our pets are impervious to grief, that their love is, in many ways, transactional. You feed and care for me, and in return, I give you love. But “The Friend” flies in the face of that nonsense, drawing inspiration from Sigrid Nunez’s novel based on her experiences caring for her best friend’s dog after he died. But unlike the book, built on an internalized conversation she’s carrying on with the deceased, the film is much more visceral. We see the pain and hurt in Apollo’s hugely expressive eyes. And the comfort he derives from snuggling up with Walter’s old T-shirt sparks instant empathy.
Apollo, an unabashed ham known in real life as Bing, holds nothing back in terms of his sorrow. That’s not the case with Iris. She’s too busy working with Walter’s daughter, Val (Sarah Pidgeon), on adapting his correspondence into a diary. That is when she’s not fending off the eviction notices filed by the owners of her rent-controlled, no-pets-allowed apartment or the catty remarks aimed at her by Walter’s third, and most bitter, ex-wife, Tuesday (Constance Wu).
If that weren’t a heavy enough load, Iris also oversees a creative writing workshop at NYU. Ironic, since she’s been afflicted with writer’s block for years. Well, until Apollo comes along to reawaken her long-dormant rapport with the living world. The journey from checked-out automaton to engaged chronicler is a predictable one, as is she and Apollo evolving from wary flatmates to best of pals. But that’s not what “The Friend” is really about. It’s much richer than that, much more nuanced.
In actuality, it’s not about life at all. It’s about death and the utterly selfish act of suicide, a deed that betrays the people – and in this case, dog – who loved Walter unconditionally. They didn’t deserve having this hurt and sense of loss thrust upon them. By killing himself, Walter kills a piece of the soul of each of the people who knew and loved him best. Sure, he was a cad, a notorious womanizer and a distant dad, but he was also witty, brilliant, and, for Iris, a trusted mentor and devoted confidant. And what about the many fans of his novels and essays? They’ve been cheated, too.
I appreciate how McGehee and Siegel regularly incorporate the line “What’s going to happen to the dog?” It’s on the lips of many but obviously was not paramount on Walter’s mind. Who wants to adopt a 6-year-old dog bigger than the members of the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team? Iris is quickly discovering the answer. And the more she tries to find Apollo a new home, the closer woman and beast become. Oh, and, as Val points out to an inexact Iris, it’s not “soothe the savage beast,” it’s “soothe the savage breast.”
Either way, it’s music to me. And so is “The Friend,” a funny, gorgeous, big-hearted valentine honoring what it means to love, be loved and to enjoy the privilege of being part of something as grand as New York’s close-knit literati. The movie is very much a celebration of that as much as it is a joyous ode to man – in this case, woman – and their warm, furry companions. We wish our pets could live as long as us, but love is never about longevity. It’s about the profound connection we forge during those too-short years. And we wouldn’t trade a minute of it for all the money in the world.
Movie review
The Friend
Rated: R for a sexual reference and language
Cast: Naomi Watts, Bill Murray, Constance Wu, Carla Gugino, Sarah Pidgeon, Ann Dowd, Tom McCarthy, Noma Dumezweni and Bing
Directors: Scott McGehee and David Siegel
Writers: Scott McGehee and David Siegel
Runtime: 119 minutes
Where: In theaters March 28 (limited) before expanding April 4
Grade: A-
