Re: Repost: Lawn Dogs (best movie ever)

Best Movie Ever.

I agree about Devon's words to Trent. How beautiful.

Trent: Whatever happened at the end of that story?
Devon: The girl got away. She ran and she ran until she was home.
Trent: Home, yeah. Tell me where that is, Devon.
Devon (cupping Trent's chin in her hands): Home is in my hands.

One of the greatest scenes in the movie!

Other things in the film that you may have missed (it is rich on so many levels!):

1) Devon's parents care about her on some level, but don't really respect her - like many parents. Even though Brett is actually abusive to Devon, they are quick to rationalize it away because it is not convenient to do anything about it. He is rich. See #4.

2) Devon is lonely. She literally has a "broken heart".

3) Trent's relationship with Sean, who was a friend long ago but has now made good, is reminiscent of the relationship between gays and child lovers. (It's pretty obvious Sean is gay.)

Yeah, he is gay. How I knew was when Trent kissed him (and bit him) he wasn't outraged by the kiss but by the bite.

4) Poverty is used as a metaphor for child love.

I can't really see this. I saw poverty for what it was. I can understand what you mean, but I don't think that's what the writer had meant.

I love this conversation:

Devon: People say you're trash.
Trent: Yeah, I guess they do.
Devon: I wouldn't like that.
Trent: You get used to it.
* * * * *
Devon: Trash is something you put a lid on 'cause it stinks. You don't smell that bad.
Trent (laughing): That makes my day.

Devon and Trent's visit to Trent's family doesn't make much sense outside of this metaphor - but note that in the poor community everyone is much nicer to her than at home, and she is treated with respect. Compare Trent's mother and Devon's mother when it comes to serving a drink to a guest.

Yeah, I saw the contrast. It was blatant.

5) The bit about Trent's father having served his country faithfully, but his country not returning that good faith, seems to emphasize that the U.S.A. is not in fact a free country for many of its best citizens. This is the only interpretation I can find that explains the flag sequence.

Flags are the overall representative of its country. The U.S. flag has almost attained religion status. What was more important than the flag was Trent's father's participating in the war. The flag, and what it represented, was useless to Trent, his father, and even Devon. But Trend did, in the end, find a good use for the flag. It showed his respect for the death of the dog.

6) Stealing the chickens is a metaphor for a sexual relationship: Devon and Trent embark on an illegal venture together, at Devon's insistence. (I don't feel entirely good about this metaphor, because stealing chickens is a real offense that deprives others of the product of their labor - but what does it say about America that this is considered a minor crime which must substitute in the film for the "major" crime of love?)

I saw the theft as a conscious and aforethought decision to rebel at the "rest of the world".

7) Note that the only people in the film who get hurt are the good guys: Devon, Trent, and Sean. Sean (representing the gay community) gets hurt while attacking Trent (representing the child lovers) at the insistence of Devon's father (representing the normals). The person most victimized by all this is Devon, who her father was ostensibly protecting.

I was very shocked that Devon shot Sean. I just don't think of 10 year old girls conceiving of the notion of using a gun. What was even MORE shocking was Devon pointing it at her father, afterwards.

(and from a post in April 2005)

I am not entirely sure of the author's intentions. I was more sure the allegory was intended when I thought the discussion of class was deliberately ridiculous, but later I discovered the author is Marxist.

All in all, I enjoyed the movie. I thought that there was an unusual dwelling on urine with Trent peeing in the cup, the security guard sniffing it, and Devon pouring it out in the grass. Then, there was Devon's peeing on the car's windshield and then using the wipers to clear it. While I loved the scene, I wondered just how far would the director go to make the point that Devon was rebellious. Tossing her dress and howling at the neighborhood was rebellious enough for me. Such a beautiful scene! Trent, too, was rebellious with his bridge dive. I enjoyed that scene, too. (I love a rebellion!) By the way, his dive was not well executed. I'd give him an 8.5 for technique and 8.0 for form. (The splash of his entrance was huge.)

Thanks for sending me this way to the movie, Baldur. I will watch it again later. And again. And again...