Review by Beatrice On 09-May-2024
Southern France, small village in Herault.
Antoine Mirales and Damien/Dog have known each other since they were 12 years old, although the former moved to Grenoble for a while, but now he's back.
They spend a lot of time together, mainly because Mirales tries to convince Damien to get out of the house, be more active, not to laze on the couch, and to listen to him attentively.
He doesn't love his job, which he describes as “being the watchdog of the homeland.”
Meanwhile, Mirales has a dog, Malabar, whom he adores and manages like a soldier, loving him deeply and addressing him as if he were his son. He is also a literature lover and cannot stand what he considers his friend's lies, quoting Montaigne: “I do myself more harm by lying than I do to him whom I lie to.”
The two friends have an ambivalent relationship: they play, have fun, deceive each other, one silently, the other constantly judging the other's behavior.
They spend a lot of time in the village streets where Mirales delivers muscat biscuits and other items.
Dog gives a ride to a girl, Elsa, and starts a relationship that Mirales tries to question and oppose.
After all, Mirales admits he is not meant to live in that place and knows he will get cancer if he continues to stay there because sooner or later, the body will manifest this discomfort.
He does not hesitate to psychoanalyze everyone, often brags, and is extremely meticulous: one must be careful when expressing oneself, as he is always ready to nitpick, highlighting any implausible or contradictory statement while seemingly excusing himself by claiming that “the subtlest madness springs from the subtlest wisdom.”
He loves cooking and is a purist of carbonara, for which he does not allow the use of cream... even though his painter mother prefers it with this ingredient.
He is very provocative and aggressive with Elsa, who does not tolerate Damien's lack of reaction towards his friend. She has just specialized in comparative literature and graduated on the reflective echoes of classical meter in Hermann Hesse's literary prose.
Irony, sarcasm, modesty, nitpicking, ostentations, verbal assaults, socio-cultural satire, Mirales does not hesitate to exhaust himself with all this and the contradictions of those present and Damien's noisy behavior while he voraciously devours food “like a bowl dog” during the birthday dinner he organized for him.
He is also a purist in love: he wants a woman to be like a raw diamond, sincere, loyal, to create a bubble with her, to be buried with her, or nothing at all...
Life scares Mirales; his premonitory dreams led him to start smoking cannabis: the goal was to stop dreaming.
A careless act by Dog causes a dangerous situation, but the only one who can help him is his childhood friend who does not hesitate to rush to his aid along with the dog Malabar; something irreversible will happen, and the fate of the two friends will change irreparably.
Between the music of a cello and that of a piano, the theme of the relentless search for the self through the escape from oneself, through the scrupulous attention to the behavior of others, to the language of others, to the choices of others.
Mirales is all this and much more, together with his friend Dog and their extreme/incompatible differences and their absolute and indisputable friendship.
The insecurity hidden by an arrogance that demands others to be in our image and likeness is the fragility and peculiarity of this boy.
A fierce coming-of-age comedy, funny and sharp to the right degree, tells the vulnerable reality of a masculinity in becoming through brotherhood, precariousness, belonging, and violence.
Jean Baptiste Durand reveals his origins as well as the meaning of the title: Junkyard Dog.
“It's an expression that comes from suburban neighborhoods, and there's also the metaphor of the dog because the friendship that unites these boys resembles the master-dog relationship, a dominant/dominated relationship but also an unfailing love, courage, and loyalty to the limit of the absurd.
The junkyard dog is the one who does things for himself, despite his friends. He believes that others are junkyard dogs. There's violence in this friendship... It's a film about the friendship of young people, the kind that isn't really chosen, being people who live in the same village.”
And while Dog stoically accepts his friend as he is without question, Mirales tries to change others instead of knowing and observing himself: something strong must happen for him to change his point of view.
A conflicting relationship with life radically distinguishes him: he knows well, quoting Montaigne, that “every day takes us to death, the last one arrives there,” but in this case, perhaps the last day is only the first of a new beginning, who knows...
A precious film, a debut work that opens many avenues for reflection, resorting to feelings, fragilities, spaces of solitude, frustrations, fears.
A game of meticulous looks at imperfections, estrangements, alienations; an indulgent and welcoming embrace of a delicate, vulnerable young humanity, though fighting for a possible and plausible existence.
Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.
09-May-2024 by Beatrice