Baxter

If I was able to hear what those terrifying, drooling, barking creatures from Hell think, my phobia would get even worse, and I probably wouldn’t even leave the house. Sure, this film is not saying that dogs are bloodthirsty beasts, but shows that they have at least a reason to attack (though petty, in Baxter’s case), while people are sometimes deranged assholes who do evil without a reason. And yet, one look at the white snout of a bull terrier scares me more than five little Hitlers put together. You can’t control fear. So, now that I’ve confessed my nightmares, what about the film itself? An original and insane gem that I can wholeheartedly recommend. I was expecting something completely different, so the (pleasant) surprise was even bigger (2013.04.03)

Ugh, I just cannot understand how anyone could possibly use the word comedy in connection with this movie. Baxter would not even know what comedy was if it bit it on the nose. It is a weighty drama bizarrely shot from the point of view of a dog who comments on what’s going on in the world of humans. This movie is, therefore, seen through the eyes of a dog who has it slightly messed up in his head (and probably understandably so, unlike with the human characters). It is a rather unexceptional and unpleasantly cruel statement about (in)humanity, which is definitely not going to cheer you up in any way. In any case, I was left with a slightly bad aftertaste because of how the distinctly tame bull terrier was probably treated during the filming of this movie, when a performance with ferocious reactions was demanded of him, even though he clearly had no desire to be fierce. (2021.11.08)