New & Notable: Dog Meets Goose
Directed by John Bryant Crawford
Tragic characters are those with an inability to reason through the events of their lives in ways that seem appropriate to the rest of us. There is a sense of inevitability that permeates a tragedy as a pattern begins to develop in the choices the characters make. Great tragic characters will lead you to their disastrous conclusions expediently. Their choices unravel in falling action that ultimately leads to their demise. Dog Meet Goose, Directed by Jon Bryant Crawford is such a tale.
It is the story of a registered sex offender who gets an unexpected visit from a teenage boy. Needless to say, it is NOT SAFE FOR WORK. The performances and the direction here are a triumph. I did not want to watch in full anticipation that whatever was going to happen was not going to be good, and at the same time I could not look away. This is provocative cinema the likes of which you would expect to see from Harmony Korine or Von Trier.
There is also something about this film that is representative of a tragedy that is particularly American. Tragic heroes, in the classical and Elizabethan approaches, are men of renown who fall from immense heights. American tragic heroes, like “MAN”, our unsuspecting sex offender, are downtrodden when they begin their journey. They don’t have far to go to hit rock bottom, and once their tragic flaws are laid bare it is most usually shameful and difficult to watch.
If you have the stomach for something difficult, then I highly recommend this film.
Sometimes a Good Notion 