A Dog's Life: A Dogamentary (2004)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Powerful

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

I saw this movie on New Year's Day in 2007 with my Miniature Schnauzer, Samantha.This is a beautiful love story, albeit with a different angle. Gayle is a wonderful film maker who handled a difficult subject with style and class.While Chelsea is in Doggie Heaven now, she will always be remembered as a caring loving dog. Aren't they all?I loved the music especially the song Dog's Life by Dave's True Story off the album Nature. it is a must for Jazz lovers and is in current rotation on my iPod 5 years after I first heard it.See this movie, don't forget your dog!

After just one viewing, this instantly became one of my favorite movies for several reasons: First, it's a very sweet story about a woman and her dog. It's light, it's fun and it shows how much one woman can love her dog. It's a downright feel good movie. If you have a dog, you'll love it even more. If you don't, you'll realize what you're missing.Second, Gayle's efforts in putting this movie together, getting it distributed, gathering support, etc. virtually on her own, are incredibly motivating.Third, Gayle's confidence and go-for-it attitude all through the movie are so inspiring.Helen Keller said: "Life is a daring adventure or it's nothing at all." Gayle is the embodiment of that quote and her movie is proof of that.I read the negative comments about this movie. I can't figure out what these people are talking about. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but these are so extreme I wonder what the motivation for posting them would have been.If you want a sweet story about a woman and her dog, put together by a lone dog lover, not a big studio, I recommend this one so highly.And my bet is that the last few minutes of this film will bring you some of the biggest smiles. They did for me.As a disclaimer, I have no business or personal relationship with Gayle aside from letting her know how much I love her movie.

I have to agree with many of the negative comments. Gayle Kirschenbaum is incredibly self-absorbed, and this is really driven home when you look at the credits and no one else is given any! She is one of the pet people I cannot stand--dressing them up, interacting through them, constantly asking "isn't my baby the cutest?", not allowing them to be what they are--animals--and spending small fortunes on pet clothes, jewelry, beauty parlors, etc, while humans starve in front of them. (Trust me, ladies, this is NOT the way to attract a man!) But 9/11 does bring somewhat of a change for the better in her, and it is an interesting contrast. I'd give it a lower rating but for a couple of things. There are some very funny moments; one involving a husband who's given up is absolutely priceless. Then there is the music, including a separate video on the DVD. The jazz group Dave's True Story performing "A Dog's Life" is worth the price of rental. Bravo to them!

This alleged 'documentary' is not a documentary at all, but a 33-minute exercise in self-adulation by one stone-cold clueless filmmaker. It's so awful that I thought it was a satire or a running joke. I kept waiting for a punch line, but, alas, it plays it straight from beginning to end. The filmmaker behind A Dog's Life, etc., is a strange and, in my eyes, hopelessly self-absorbed New Yorker named Gayle Kirschenbaum, who shows discerning viewers how an adult human being, using her own camera, can make an absolute idiot out of herself and be totally oblivious to it. The titular dog of the flick is called Chelsea, and he's much more than a pet. He's a lover and an obsession for Kirschenbaum. She also sees herself as a 'single mother' to this cute little mutt. She dresses him in a variety of fashionable clothes, bathes and sleeps with him, kisses him (yes, tongues are involved), picks up his feces from the living room carpet, takes him to a spa, a day care, a 'personal physician' (a vet to the rest of us) and a pet 'psychiatrist' (!). She talks to other dog owners about arranged marriages and buying rhinestone bracelets. And still the punch line doesn't come. In the aftermath of 11 September in New York, Kirshenbaum reveals her rank opportunism by showcasing her precious dog in a NYC hospital, ostensibly giving comfort to the afflicted.I would like to believe that this woman was deeply concerned about the welfare of these hospital patients, but that takes a wild leap of faith -- her lens gives us ample evidence to the contrary. She appears to be far more interested in showing the infirm and their relatives what a magnificent creature Chelsea was/is/whatever. In the hospital, the Dance of the Macabre begins. We see at least two comatose, skeletal and dying patients flanked by a beaming Kirshenbaum and her doggie. One elderly man is seen gasping for breath on his literal deathbed while Kirshenbaum records it, apparently with great satisfaction. She thought her adorable dog was giving comfort to these people, but instead they were, sad to say, too preoccupied with dying. It was ghoulish, a ghastly affront to human dignity, and yet this incredibly insensitive woman didn't seem to realize it.What I also find remarkable is that apparently none of her many so-called 'friends' told Kirschenbaum what a spectacle she had made of herself. Even the noted doc-maker Albert Maysles (Grey Gardens, Gimme Shelter) praises her. In the cloistered intellectual gardens of Greenwich Village, 'friends' is a negotiable noun.There's a little conceit in this flick about Kirshenbaum trying to get a husband for her and and a 'daddy' for Chelsea. I love the ending (unless it's a contrived set-up, which is entirely possible). The filmmaker stops a guy on the street and asks if he's married. He looks uncomfortable and wants to keep walking. You can read his face and it's saying: 'oh, oh, it's another one of those dog people'. But again, Kirshenbaum didn't seem to pick up on it. He might have been the only sensible person in this whole flick. 'A Dog's Life' is fascinating for all the wrong reasons. One wonders how Kirshenbaum manages to navigate through the portals of everyday reality.