My Life as a Dog

We know some of you wonder what it is with this little Swedish movie that makes it the quasi-official foreign film of the Blockbuster crowd. Our guess is somewhere along the lines of New York Times critic Luke Y. Thompson, who called it “a tad overrated, but still charming.” True enough. Director Lasse Hallstrom’s later work includes The Shipping News, Chocolat, The Cider House Rules, and the utterly brilliant What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, and his first crossover hit touched on something that keeps people coming back. But more than that, My Life as A Dog is decidedly palatable, fresh in that foreign-film way, but not so unfamiliar as to be “difficult.” Set in the 1950s, the coming-of-age tale follows Ingemar (Anton Glanzelius), a 12-year-old whose mother is dying of tuberculosis and whose father has ditched. Ingemar must confront the stirrings of puberty, confusion, and affection—and loss, grieving, and release when his mother and beloved dog die.