Big city transplants, Walt (Desmin Borges), Wendy (Kelly O’Sullivan, writer and codirector of “Ghostlight”) and their recently adopted dog, Tony (Mr. Tibbs), adjust to life in Portland, Maine. Life should be perfect, but Walt, an aspiring graphic designer, is in a deep funk. Wendy is thriving back in her hometown, but Walt is having a hard time adjusting. When Wendy leaves on a big work trip, he will have to step up and take care of Tony, who clearly prefers Wendy. Wendy doubts Walt’s ability to handle the responsibility. When Tony is taken, Walt goes on a quotidian adventure to defy the odds and find Tony to save his relationship and maybe himself. “Hangdog” (2023) is the narrative directorial debut for married filmmaking duo, writer Jen Cordery and director Matt Cascella.
If the description of “Hangdog” sounds like the last movie that you would want to watch because you feel predisposed to hate Walt and worry about the dog, don’t worry. The dog returns home safely, and Walt is not as awful as first impressions will have you believe. Cordery, who modeled the character after herself, navigates her protagonist between the Scylla of annoying, weaponized incompetent baby men and the Charybdis of dangerous, sabotaging men who want to inflate their owns egos and maintain their status by bringing their partner down a peg and hurting anyone or thing that their partner loves. Walt comes perilously close in the first act whether it is expressing his annoyance at Wendy’s bond with the omnipresent Tony or failing to unpack boxes though he is unemployed and has free time. Cordery redeems Walt by making his primary motivation not ruining her big moment and taking responsibility for his action.
Borges and Mr. Tibbs also make it possible to root for Walt. Without getting into the nitty gritty details, Borges conveys that Walt is dealing with more than a chip on his shoulder because Wendy is running laps around him. He is failing to thrive because he is stuck in his brain and unable to bond with the people around him, including Mr. Tibbs, or appreciate his beautiful surroundings. Borges changes Walt’s energy and interest whenever Wendy is around, or she mentions her career aspirations, a green flag that movies like “We Live in Time” (2024) fail to achieve and in contrast push against women’s career aspirations as a plot point. Everyone is rooting for Wendy. Her accomplishments help the family. Walt is at sea because he feels like he cannot accomplish any of his dreams whereas everyone, especially mussel sorters whom Walt initially misjudged, have more direction, joy and commitment to life than he does.
Cascella treats Mr. Tibbs’ perspective of the situation as independent from ours and as a character by shooting low. All the animals in “Hangdog” have their own little community and an inner life independent from their human beings. A seagull crosses the street. One dog is straining at being tied to a porta potty. Tony is getting to know the dog community on the beach during his morning walk, and he has more doubts about Tony than Wendy, especially when it comes to the food situation, and is the only one keeping Walt on schedule, including an appointment for a job interview! Even though he is missing for most of the movie, his final judgment is pivotal to establishing how moviegoers should feel about Walt.
Once Tony goes missing, Cascella’s camera work reflects Walt’s absolute panic and meltdown. Tony’s disappearance forces Walt to interact with others, use his artistic talents and explore his surroundings. By getting out of his head, he gradually becomes more of the man that Wendy is envisioning than the one that viewers have been observing. Quirky Mainers aid Tony on his quest: marijuana dispenser, Kevin (Robert Hadlock), his eavesdropping neighbor, Marianne (Barbara Rosenblat), David (Matthew Delamate), a burly man who lives on a boat and dons a bloody t-shirt, artisanal pickler and failed fisherman Brent (Steve Coulter), Brent’s neighbor Buffy (Catherine Curtin, “Saturday Night” and consummate scene stealer) and teen Mikey (Nicholas Zoto). While Walt’s plight never loses the spotlight, each supporting character feels like a well-developed character who was living a full life before they invite Walt into their lives. A lesser movie would just give archetypes.
Without feeling saccharine or predictable or being heavy-handed, “Hangdog” becomes a sweet little love letter to Portland and Peaks Island. If you have an opportunity to see it on the big screen, do it. It is gorgeously shot, and for a first-time feature director, he knows how to use a variety of long, medium and close-up shots to convey the emotion of the scene and the personality of its characters. Without resorting to high-definition, cutesy travelogue porn, Maine becomes an approachable, picturesque yet still realistic ocean side town. It may be easy to miss it, but there is a casual, understated environmentalist streak that is an organic part of the characters’ lives, and financial concerns are practical and provide an omnipresent backdrop.
The filmmakers are themselves big city transplants, which probably explains why their portrait of a welcoming community is quirky without feeling stylized or inauthentic. Do not shudder at the thought of a derivative Stars Hollow from “Gilmore Girls,” which has not aged well. There are a lot of intergenerational friendships without romantic connotations, which is rare for most movies. While Walt expresses an initial disdain for the community because of the predominance of “jobs from the Middle Ages,” entering people’s homes reflects their inner lives: a rough exterior and an often warm, perfectly arranged interior except for the leading suspects of dog theft. They are not the Northern version of backwards backwoods banjo players that Walt fears. They are each more sensitive than their rough exteriors indicate, and everyone should be so lucky to encounter such delightful strangers. Everyone’s life is treated with dignity, and there are few images of nuclear families. Instead families vary: a single man with a dog, a single, aging lesbian dedicated to her creative babies, a single mother or an unmarried couple. They are all valid and worthy of our attention.
“Hangdog” keeps Walt accountable during the uncomfortable denouement. After three days away, Wendy comes home. When introduced, Wendy is pulling double duty as the cheerleader and seeing the best in Walt so when she finally stops and reacts like anyone would in this situation, it is devastating because the viewer has witnessed Walt’s growth, but Wendy’s reaction is appropriate since she does not have first-hand knowledge. It is additionally heartbreaking because her parents, Art (Jay Dunigan) and Sue (Amy-Jane Mooney), are present for it and are rooting for Walt, which feels like an additional betrayal of Wendy’s just anger though it does accurately reflect how families often counterintuitively side with the person whom they do not have a longer relationship with when a daughter is involved, but may also be an indication of the Walt that existed before the big move. There is also a cutaway before the parents address the hitherto fore unknown reason that Wendy felt obligated to return. There are no pat moments or one-dimensional people. Wendy’s family wants her to have her own life and not live for them.
If “Hangdog” technically was not released in 2023, it would easily be a top twenty film of 2024 for being such a refreshing, unpredictable and hilarious movie about how Walt got his groove back. The key to a good relationship is a solid connection to community that shares the burden of bringing his best self out to share with his one true love.
