‘The Friend’ Review: Naomi Watts, Bill Murray And A GREAT Great Dane Make A Heartwarming And Human Story Irresistible – Telluride Film Festival
deadline.com“What happens to the dog?” That is a line that pops up throughout the new dramedy The Friend, which asks that question in different ways and plays with our own experiences in watching movies centered on man’s best friend where whether the dog lives — or dies — is front of mind.
And indeed (partly) the title star of this movie is a majestic and huge Great Dane named Apollo (Bing), but “The Friend” is also a woman named Iris (Naomi Watts), a New York City professor and writer who was the best friend to Walter (Bill Murray), a celebrated author and womanizer, married three times among other relationships, but devoted to the 5-year-old Apollo and vice versa.
That is until the unthinkable happens and Walter unexpectedly dies, a suicide that sends his circle into a tailspin and Apollo into unending grief and lack of understanding of what happened to his master.
That is the premise for this moving, funny, humane and quite unforgettable tale, an adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s National Book Club-winning novel by writer-directors Scott McGehee & David Siegel that becomes an irresistible experience that anyone who ever loved a pet must see.
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