Must (Really) Love Dogs

There has perhaps never been a more deceptively innocent movie tagline than My Dog Tulip’s: “The story of a man who rescues a German shepherd and how the two become fast friends.” This animated feature, based on British wordsmith J.R. Ackerley’s memoir of the same name, is no saccharine, Disneyfied...

By John Thomason

February 24, 2011

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There has perhaps never been a more deceptively innocent movie tagline than My Dog Tulip’s: “The story of a man who rescues a German shepherd and how the two become fast friends.” This animated feature, based on British wordsmith J.R. Ackerley’s memoir of the same name, is no saccharine, Disneyfied cartoon. The relationship between the author and his unruly dog walks an uncomfortable, perpetual tightrope between sweet and disturbing, the two parties exchanging love in every way this side of bestiality. He writes poetically about his dog’s bowel movements and the beauty of her vulva, rendered onscreen as graphically as you would expect from an animated picture. Between anthropomorphizing his pooch and animalizing himself, Ackerley breaks down conventions between man and beast. Though most of us would find his affection extreme, My Dog Tulip speaks to a kind of myopic love toward one’s pet to which any loving owner can relate. The film’s staccato animation style, created entirely with computers, ironically harkens back to the medium’s earliest graphite-on-paper creations. The movie opens 6 p.m. Thursday at Cinema Paradiso (503 SE Sixth St., Fort Lauderdale). General admission is $9. Call 954-525-3456, or visit fliff.com.
Thu., Feb. 24, 6 p.m., 2011

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