iofilm - film inside out
Google
  Web iofilm




IOFILM : FILM : REVIEW

A Letter To True rating 
2.5/5 A Letter To True

   
Director Bruce Weber
Writer Bruce Weber
Stars True, Polar Bear, Sky
Certificate PG
Running time 78 minutes
Country US
Year 2003
Associated shops

Reviewed by Boomslang

The experience of watching this film is something like flicking through a photo album. It is the personal musings and memories of Bruce Weber, narrated as a letter to one of his dogs.

Weber has been a leading fashion photographer for many years and has directed a number of feature films. A Letter To True is a cinematic journey, which takes in a range of subjects, from the plight of Haitian refugees to the filmmaker's love of Elizabeth Taylor. The recurring theme of admiration of dogs provides a tenuous thread running through everything, but the one real connection is Weber's own passion for these subjects.

He has created a montage of archival footage, old films, photographs and shots of his dogs frolicking in slow motion, combined with a mixture of narration and music, which is used with varying degrees of success. Some of the more interesting sections are the anecdotal accounts of time spent with icons, such as Taylor and Dirk Bogarde.

The loose, non-linear narrative is almost poetic in the way that it is structured. His affection for his undeniably beautiful pack of dogs is endearing to begin with, but the constant adoring allusions to their nobility and wisdom becomes quite tiring. He seems to be saying something about the innocence and honesty with which dogs view the world and how it would be a better place if we humans could follow their example.

The film is meandering and self-indulgent in places, although the music, images and commentary occasionally combine to create moments of genuine beauty. It has clearly been shot with a photographers eye, which means that at times it has the feel of a Calvin Klein advert.

Printer-friendly version