A Dog's Life: A Dogamentary (2004)

Gayle Kirschenbaum created a touching and funny movie about the love and companionship between people and dogs. Chelsea (Gayle's dog) has to be the cutest dog ever!This wonderful "dogamentary" not only moved me but my daughter who is 11 years old. After seeing this film she insisted we get her a dog. She was inspired to make her own a movie. The "doggie cam" showing Chelsea's point of view is priceless! You don't have to be a dog lover to love this film. This film is fun, funny and touching!

This alleged 'documentary' is not a documentary at all, but a 33-minute exercise in self-adulation by one stone-cold clueless filmmaker. It's so awful that I thought it was a satire or a running joke. I kept waiting for a punch line, but, alas, it plays it straight from beginning to end. The filmmaker behind A Dog's Life, etc., is a strange and, in my eyes, hopelessly self-absorbed New Yorker named Gayle Kirschenbaum, who shows discerning viewers how an adult human being, using her own camera, can make an absolute idiot out of herself and be totally oblivious to it. The titular dog of the flick is called Chelsea, and he's much more than a pet. He's a lover and an obsession for Kirschenbaum. She also sees herself as a 'single mother' to this cute little mutt. She dresses him in a variety of fashionable clothes, bathes and sleeps with him, kisses him (yes, tongues are involved), picks up his feces from the living room carpet, takes him to a spa, a day care, a 'personal physician' (a vet to the rest of us) and a pet 'psychiatrist' (!). She talks to other dog owners about arranged marriages and buying rhinestone bracelets. And still the punch line doesn't come. In the aftermath of 11 September in New York, Kirshenbaum reveals her rank opportunism by showcasing her precious dog in a NYC hospital, ostensibly giving comfort to the afflicted.I would like to believe that this woman was deeply concerned about the welfare of these hospital patients, but that takes a wild leap of faith -- her lens gives us ample evidence to the contrary. She appears to be far more interested in showing the infirm and their relatives what a magnificent creature Chelsea was/is/whatever. In the hospital, the Dance of the Macabre begins. We see at least two comatose, skeletal and dying patients flanked by a beaming Kirshenbaum and her doggie. One elderly man is seen gasping for breath on his literal deathbed while Kirshenbaum records it, apparently with great satisfaction. She thought her adorable dog was giving comfort to these people, but instead they were, sad to say, too preoccupied with dying. It was ghoulish, a ghastly affront to human dignity, and yet this incredibly insensitive woman didn't seem to realize it.What I also find remarkable is that apparently none of her many so-called 'friends' told Kirschenbaum what a spectacle she had made of herself. Even the noted doc-maker Albert Maysles (Grey Gardens, Gimme Shelter) praises her. In the cloistered intellectual gardens of Greenwich Village, 'friends' is a negotiable noun.There's a little conceit in this flick about Kirshenbaum trying to get a husband for her and and a 'daddy' for Chelsea. I love the ending (unless it's a contrived set-up, which is entirely possible). The filmmaker stops a guy on the street and asks if he's married. He looks uncomfortable and wants to keep walking. You can read his face and it's saying: 'oh, oh, it's another one of those dog people'. But again, Kirshenbaum didn't seem to pick up on it. He might have been the only sensible person in this whole flick. 'A Dog's Life' is fascinating for all the wrong reasons. One wonders how Kirshenbaum manages to navigate through the portals of everyday reality.

this is awful. not even like Plan 9 awful.the narrating is arrogant and self-righteous. the subject matter is just plain ridiculous. and essentially the movie seems to have Absolutely NOTHING TO SAY.it's a fantastic study on who is able to make movies these days; you don't need a voice or heart anymore - you just have to have money, connections, and a sense of entitlement.someone, for the love of "film" and "cinema", pick this up with a plastic bag on the sidewalk and throw it in the garbage can around the corner.

This is the cutest documentary...a must for all dog lovers!! The first half is about a woman (the filmmaker) trying to find love in new york city with her dog. Her little dog, Chelsea, is also looking for love and they meet all these off-the-wall characters on their quest for love. But what really makes the movie worth watching is the second half, after 9/11, Chelsea becomes a pet therapy dog. She was even credited with taking a woman out of a coma! Anyway, the film ends on this really poignant note of finding love by giving love...so sweet! It made me laugh and cry, and I'm usually not an emotional movie watcher! See this movie if you get a chance!