在1890年之前,作家契科夫(尼古拉斯·吉劳德 Nicolas Giraud 饰)创作的多为富有喜剧和讽刺色彩的轻松作品,他的作品因为诙谐幽默又浅显易懂,深受民众的喜爱,俄国科学院为了表彰他给世界带来的精神财富,将“普希金奖”颁发给了契科夫。 1890年,契科夫孤身一人跨越了千山万水,来到了库页岛,这里曾经是政治犯的流放地。库页岛上宛如人间地狱一般的景象深深的撼动了契科夫的内心,他开始意识到,在自己熟悉的世界之外,还有这么多人生活在苦难和贫穷之中。从此,契科夫一改文风,以库页岛之行作为素材,开始撰写揭露沙俄专制制度的作品。
Facing a long winter of lockdown and combating a bad case of writer’s block, filmmaker Eric agrees to get a dog with his girlfriend Allie. A modern couple – vegan, ethical, millennial, neurotic – much research and negotiation leads to the arrival of Milly, a rescue from the Dominican Republic. This sets off a riotous chain of new challenges on how to best deal with this addition to the household. As Eric contends with a sinister dog-training programme, his introspection spills out onto his film work, with poor Allie and Milly taken along for the ride. The couple each pursue their own deepheld individual questions surrounding trust, purpose and roots, while wrestling with the idea of what it means to be a modern family. Milly, in the meantime, has a lot on her paws with these two!
Part rom-com, part rescue-dog story, part autofiction, part self-indictment, part family scrapbook, this debut feature was made with remarkable economy and displays a disquieting amount of (often hilarious) emotional authenticity. Filmmaker Ben Petrie and creative collaborator Grace Glowicki play the young couple and in doing so, capture nothing less than what it means to be human.