It was Roger Ebert's highly favorable review led me to this little animation dog film, adapted by Paul Fierlinger and Sandra Fierlinger from J.R.Ackerley's 1956 memoir with the same title, voice over by Christopher Plummer, Lynn Redgrave and Isabella Rossellini. Released June 10, 2009.
It's a story about companionship between an old lonely man with his unruly female German shepherd dog whom he had rescued in her 18th month in 1947. The story is told in such a minute way involving every detail of the canine bodily function: almost one third of the length was on urinating and defecating, remaining two third was mating detail -- for someone never have kept a pet before these too intimate informaton made me more than a little uncomfortable, ha, my bad. However the film is thoroughly enjoyable, the painting are beautiful and simple done by paperless system but retains a strong hand-drawn flavour, the odd and dry humour permeated through the film prevented it being ever oversentimental, and what counts the most, it touches that string deep in our hearts that in this overcrowded and lonely world, all we need is love, wherever we can find it.
Quotes:
Unable to love each other, the English turn naturally to dogs.
It seems to me, both touching and strange, that she should find the world so wonderful.
Whatever blunders I may have commited in my management of my animal's life, she lived on to the great age of sixteen and half. I was a bit drained in spirit when Tulip came into my hands, and the fifteen years she lived with me turned into the happiest of my life. She entered my life when I was quite over 50, and she entirely transformed it. She offered me what I have never found in my life with humans, constant single-hearted incorruptable uncritical devotion, which it is in the nature of dogs to offer. She placed herself entirely under my control. Looking at her sometimes in her later years, I used to think that the ideal friend whom I no longer wanted, perhaps never wanted, would have the mind of my Tulip. Always at one's service through the devotion of a faithful and uncritical beast, are not all human contacts based upon one person's wish to claim the affairs of another? Everyone it seemes wishs everyone else different from what they are.
What strained and anxious lives dogs must lead, so emotionally involved in the world of human, whose affections they strive endlessly to secure, whose authority they are expected unquestioningly to obey, and whose mind they can never do more than imperfectly reach and comprehend. Stupidly loved, stupidly hated, acquired without thought, reared and rules wihtout understanding, passed on or 'put to sleep' without care, did they, I wondered, these descendants of the creatures who, thousands of years ago in the primeval forests, laid siege to the heart of man, took him under their protection, tried to tame him, and failed...did they suffer from headaches?
For as long as I could remember, I had been searching for an ideal friend. But I have never really found the person who fitted my exacting requirements. There was always some flaw, too tall, too short, too outgoing, too shy, too insecure, too independent... As the years passed and the opportunities grew fewer, I had a mental image of the ideal friend as a plain jug containing a delightful mix of good companionship and intellectual stimulation, the shape, age and size of which no longer had any importance for me. I still felt that if I only turned this corner instead of that or boarded this bus rather than that one, I would find the ideal friend waiting for me and that we would reconize each other at once after the exchange of a few words. Ah, and a further complication was that I did not want anyone to think that I was pursuing them. It was therefore necessary to encounter the ideal friend face-to-face, which is not easy if you happen both to be moving in the same direction.
It's a story about companionship between an old lonely man with his unruly female German shepherd dog whom he had rescued in her 18th month in 1947. The story is told in such a minute way involving every detail of the canine bodily function: almost one third of the length was on urinating and defecating, remaining two third was mating detail -- for someone never have kept a pet before these too intimate informaton made me more than a little uncomfortable, ha, my bad. However the film is thoroughly enjoyable, the painting are beautiful and simple done by paperless system but retains a strong hand-drawn flavour, the odd and dry humour permeated through the film prevented it being ever oversentimental, and what counts the most, it touches that string deep in our hearts that in this overcrowded and lonely world, all we need is love, wherever we can find it.
Quotes:
Unable to love each other, the English turn naturally to dogs.
It seems to me, both touching and strange, that she should find the world so wonderful.
Whatever blunders I may have commited in my management of my animal's life, she lived on to the great age of sixteen and half. I was a bit drained in spirit when Tulip came into my hands, and the fifteen years she lived with me turned into the happiest of my life. She entered my life when I was quite over 50, and she entirely transformed it. She offered me what I have never found in my life with humans, constant single-hearted incorruptable uncritical devotion, which it is in the nature of dogs to offer. She placed herself entirely under my control. Looking at her sometimes in her later years, I used to think that the ideal friend whom I no longer wanted, perhaps never wanted, would have the mind of my Tulip. Always at one's service through the devotion of a faithful and uncritical beast, are not all human contacts based upon one person's wish to claim the affairs of another? Everyone it seemes wishs everyone else different from what they are.
What strained and anxious lives dogs must lead, so emotionally involved in the world of human, whose affections they strive endlessly to secure, whose authority they are expected unquestioningly to obey, and whose mind they can never do more than imperfectly reach and comprehend. Stupidly loved, stupidly hated, acquired without thought, reared and rules wihtout understanding, passed on or 'put to sleep' without care, did they, I wondered, these descendants of the creatures who, thousands of years ago in the primeval forests, laid siege to the heart of man, took him under their protection, tried to tame him, and failed...did they suffer from headaches?
这是一部????狗狗题材的电影，更是一部大胆奇谲、慵懒而隐秘的动画电影。
单身的教授先生老来时养了一只母狗牧羊犬取名叫郁金香，纪录了这段互相陪伴的时光
色彩诡谲，画风充满线条感。教授住的????，是4层临街别墅，门口有大树乘凉。虽然房子可能是租的。
经常带着郁金香出去散步，为她找对象，他体贴地说：“拥有愉悦的性爱也是完美狗生的重要部分。”
教授经常用人的视角去看到母狗与公狗的情谊，让人羞赧而又会心。
我们习惯了日本人的细腻，却忘了其实英国人也很擅长写“小事”，当年一部《导盲犬小Q》赚进无数泪水，这部改编自英国小说的老人与狗却是一派千帆阅尽后的风轻云淡，自嘲，嘲人，最后是一点点的温暖，是老年人的知足常乐。
开头一句已经道尽人世：英国人不会爱人，所以都爱养狗。是典型的英国式自嘲。
一个年过五十的鳏夫，收养了一只不宜驯养的小狗Tulip，自由散漫的老人对狗没有约束力，Tulip便个性无比，尴尬无奈不足为道。在数次受到兽医的嘲讽后，他终于遇到了一位有经验的兽医女士，也是第一次，因为Tulip的胡闹打骂了她。老太太说，把狗给我。他交出绳索，老太太牵着它进了诊室。一会儿，她出来，他奇异于狗异乎寻常的安静。她说：没关系，你的狗性格很好，她是这样的爱你，所以在你在的时候，总是很强烈地想守卫你，仅此而已。
还是女性了解女性啊。
终身未婚的老人，和Tulip的关系，其实有点像情人，又有点像父女。因为像情人所以对她宠溺放纵，因为像父女又希望女儿尽快找到婆家，包办婚姻忙不亦乐乎，在无数次配种失败后，却 突然发现女儿已经有了对象……
又是一部旁白主导的片子，又或者说它原本就是文学改编，只是用画面把著作的美展示出来而已。旁白的配音很好，讲故事就是这样，不是诗歌朗诵慷慨激昂的，像一位老人在缓慢述说着自己的故事。画风是简陋的，线条潦草，色彩简单，确也是没有必要精细。
最值得一提的是配乐，简简单单的钢琴如影随形，人生之路走到暮年本就萧索寡淡，这片做得克制，做得散漫，配合内容刚刚好。
片子里面有很多很露骨的狗的性生活，画得不失幽默，但是这部分内容有点拖沓，看着看着不知道自己到底是在看人狗伙伴关系，还是在看动物色情片。给狗找对象成了电影的主要部分，伴随的是主人啰嗦怪癖的性格。那个絮叨劲儿确实让人想起常在英国公园里转悠，穿着皱了吧唧的西装，在寒风里用手绢呜呜地擤鼻涕的英国老大爷。
片子从头到尾有旁白讲述，动画仿佛是插图。说是传统风格，却也有形式上的突破。总体感觉，动画设计有很多有意思的细节。画面中有很多英国元素，红公共汽车、黑色出租车、泰晤士河，还有那个有名的Batersea电厂....一看就是要给美国人看的片子。不过，居然出现明显的史实错误：那种后开口的红色公共汽车（Routemaster)是在1956年才开始在伦敦使用的。在此之前虽然也有Routemaster，但是应该是有门，或者是前面开口的。而不是电影里面后面开口的这种。而这部片子的原作在1956年就完成了。片子一开始有作者采访丘吉尔的镜头，说明应该是战争时期就有了这个狗。原作一直写到狗去世，所以狗在红汽车诞生之前就去世了。电影所涉及的年份根本不应该有红公共汽车。
嘿嘿