A Dog's Dream (2005)

A red-head hooker wields a magic wand that turns coins into bills, men into dogs, bedrooms into discotheques. Aptly described as a "mixture of cop film, magical realism, and Lynchean odyssey," A Dog's Dream is a truly unique film. There is a certain texture to the visuals, gray, washed-out, almost like it were shot on video punctuated with moments of bright color. The world it exists in looks both artificial and realistically gritty. Watching this made me recall an experience I have had several times in Chinatown, Boston. Down an alley there is a store named "Worldwide Audio Corporation". The entrance is a staircase that leads down into a small white room. VHS tapes line the staircase. In the room at the bottom there is a door. Never has anyone been at the counter, there is only he sound of voices and the microwave. There are many such scenes in A Dog's Dream. The director Angelos Frantzis has found the magic hiding beneath the urban darkness. There is one glaring flaw, however. The movie is a bit too self-conscious, the camerawork too expressionistic and fluid, and there is a strong sense of trying too hard. There are moments of pure magic here, and when it works, it really works.