Heart of a Dog at Real Art Ways

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Heart of a Dog

In 2011, renowned mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary artist Laurie Anderson — whose eclectic career spans music, drawing, storytelling, performance, and more — suffered the loss of her beloved rat terrier Lolabelle as part of a succession of family deaths that also included her mother and her husband, legendary musician Lou Reed. In this strikingly personal essay film, Anderson uses her close bond with Lolabelle to anchor her reflections on subjects as diverse as family memories, surveillance, and Buddhist teachings, with her own melodic voiceover narration overlaying a complex tapestry of images (including Anderson’s own animations, 8mm home-movie footage, and lots of lovingly photographed dogs). Heart of a Dog is dreamy, comic, philosophical and intensely emotional — like Anderson herself, it defies easy categorization.

OFFICIAL SELECTION, TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2015

Terry Gross interviews Laurie Anderson: http://www.npr.org/2015/11/19/456655545/laurie-anderson-reflects-on-life-and-loss-in-heart-of-a-dog

"⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - gorgeously wrought...sparkles with its creator's wisdom and droll philosophical insight."

– Hartford Courant

"MESMERIZING! Made me laugh, think hard and cry"

– Janice Page, Boston Globe

"SPELLBINDING. Smart, silly, sad, and relentlessly honest - one of the msot moving and provocative films you'll see this year."

– Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine

"A lucid dream of a movie…studded with tough observations and philosophical nuggets. Pity the fool who doesn’t respond to its lyricism and to the depth of emotion under those Rod Serling cadences."

– David Edelstein, New York Magazine

"Wildly inventive...Philosophically astute, emotionally charged."

– AO Scott, NY Times

"dreamy, drifty and altogether lovely...It joyfully embraces silliness."

– Manohla Dargis, NY Times

"ENTHRALLING...It flows along, mimicking the continuous, fleeting, fragmentary flow of consciousness"

– NPR

"a TRANSFIXING personal essay...as INVITING as a visit with an old friend"

– LA Times

"A dog is at the heart of this film, but there's room for all manner of extraordinary insights about finding love and giving love, being canine and being human."

– Wall Street Journal