An inventive and sarcastic indie comedy about an immigrant dog driving a couple of millennials to crisis. Russian premiere as part of the contemporary programme of the Festival of Singular Films.
The Heirloom
- Date:
- 29 Sep 2024,
19:30–20:55
- Age restrictions
- 18+
2024, Ben Petrie
Canada
85 minutes, English with Russian subtitles, 18+
Starring: Ben Petrie, Grace Glowicki, Matt Johnson, Leah Doz
T
“Why don’t we get a dog?” Ellie pesters her partner, indie filmmaker Eric. It hardly seems that a pet is just what this Canadian intellectual couple needs: both of them are terribly neurotic, another long lockdown is on the cards, and Eric has reached a dead end in his work on a script. But it’s a done deal: the couple heads off to a parking lot to pick up Millie who has just arrived from the Dominican Republic. This heartbreakingly frail whippet will turn their lives upside down, along with the plan for Eric’s next film.
Shot from The Heirloom, 2024
Part rom-com, part rescue-dog story, part autofiction, part self-indictment, part family scrapbook, this debut feature was made with remarkable economy and displays a disquieting amount of (often hilarious) emotional authenticity.
— Michelle Carey, International Film Festival Rotterdam curator
The Heirloom is based on a real-life attempt by director and comedian Ben Petrie and his girlfriend, actress Grace Glowicki, to get a dog. Even if the movie was only about the ordeals of two ethical, eco-friendly Millennial vegans and their pet, it would still have been sublimely hilarious. But Petrie raised the bar. Abandoning his previous script, Eric starts to make a film about raising a disobedient dog, which changes as filming progresses. Reality, which has already been distorted by isolation during Covid, finally loses its clear boundaries: each meta-level is followed by another even more absurd than the last. Petrie elegantly plays with these layers of narrative in a style reminiscent of Charlie Kaufman’s Adaptation and Being John Malkovich, and makes such caustic jokes about himself that Woody Allen comes to mind.
The screening will begin with a brief speech by the curator in Russian. If you require interpretation into English, please request it at least three days in advance by emailing international@ges-2.org.
The world premiere of the film was held in the Bright Future programme of the Rotterdam Film Festival (2024).
