PUPPY: DVD

SYNOPSIS:
Sarcastic, resourceful and deceitful Liz (Nadia Townsend) is finally kicked out by her sister Jackie (Sally Bull), and half heartedly attempts suicide. Unconscious, she is rescued by delusional and slightly unstable tow-truck driver Aiden (Bernard Curry), who believes she's his missing wife and takes her home - and ties her to the bed, drugging her back to sleep. She plays along in a dangerous game of dependency and manipulation that threatens to spiral out of control. And just as things begin to look up between them, Aiden's real wife, Helen (Susan Ellis), turns up.

Review by Andrew L. Urban:
A strange, brave - and black - film, Puppy is a refreshing low budget (privately financed) romantic drama with elements of a thriller. Kieran Galvin has made his debut feature with a minimalist approach, primarily to keep costs down, but the result serves his lean but sinewy story. But it's what he does with character that is the most engaging aspect of the film. Liz (Nadia Townsend) is one of those people who has an unusually unsteady and unreliable moral compass, which is what gets her thrown out of her sister's place.

She retains this characteristic through a series of events that begin with her being found in her car by the roadside, attempting carbon dioxide poisoning. Don't wait for any redemption, though. The good Samaritan is Aiden (Bernard Curry), who has stopped taking his medication and is delusional. He takes her home and keeps her tied up because he doesn't want her to leave again. He thinks she is his wife - who has left.

This is the start of a beautiful friendship, as Capt Renault tells Rick at the end of Casablanca, and built on just as conflicted ground. What happens between their meeting and their romantic entanglement is a busy and often surprising story, filled with incident and detail. The direction is sparse, but the widescreen aspect ratio gives the film an open feel, in contrast to the confines of the house where much of the action takes place.

The strength of the two central performances comes into full focus only towards the end, while the production design and simple but effective score help make this a festival favourite (it has been invited to nearly a dozen before its Australia/New Zealand release).

BluRay version of the DVD includes three of the Director's short films (Angel, Burning Boy, Contact) along with a couple of behind the scenes features.

Published September 18, 2008