Dogleg - Movie Review
Styles: mike judge, slacker Others: cigarettes & coffee, living in oblivion, golden exists
6.8
How fitting my first movie review on Substack would be for Al Warren’s Dogleg, which I got to watch along an actual audience of Substackers. Dogleg celebrated it’s New York City release with a screening & after-party held by the incredibly dope Forever Magazine— also celebrating it’s fifth issue release. Such an event was held at Bushwick concert-mall Elsewhere; black lights and disco balls made for an unorthodox screening for an unorthodox movie.
Dogleg is the first movie launched by Braindead Studios, an LA staple you may have seen the logo of. They’ve rose in prominacy over the past decade— first in the streetwear world, later in music and cinema. They’ve presented Sound and Fury fest for the past two years (formerly curated by Run For Cover and Pure Noise Records), and also have a cinema (+ retail spot) on Fairfax Ave. I’ve never been, so I really don’t know, but I’ve always admired them from afar; mutually appreciating movies like Le Circle Rouge (1970) or Observe and Report (2009), and celebrating bands like Drain, Narrow Head, or Beach Fossils. Sometimes they remind me of Vice, sometimes they remind me of Dumbgood, only far more aligned to my interests than either of those brands.
When I first saw the poster & trailer for Dogleg, I thought Jarmusch, I thought Kevin Smith, I thought Terry Zwingoff.. all valid influences, but I also sensed Alex Ross Perry or Sebasatian Silva. Maybe something that looks like it could come from the 90s, but modern in it’s oddball way. I also noticed novelist Michael Bible credited as a screenwriter, so my interest greatly rose— I feel we’re growing closer to alt lit & cinema finally (maybe) matching up, so work like this was a good sign. Regardless if I liked the movie or not, supporting it was a no brainer for me.
All that being said, Dogleg is a cool movie. It has those influences mentioned above, but the experience feels more personal than that. The synopsis follows Al, a 30-something filmmaker who has a critic named Nick (:)) who agrees to help with his movie—only for Al to lose his fiance’s dog. From here, we follow Al looking for his dog, and gain a greater perspective on what his movie is actually like. The narrative breaks into segments with different casts, getting into strange things (Al explains his movie to the critic as ‘a baton pass from one short film into another’), one of which includes Sick of Myself director Kristopher Brigoli.
With positives, the ambitious dog search gives us an incredible look of LA. Scenes take place in both nice AND average homes, it’s full of traffic, populated; even if some areas are desolate like a desert. The movie is quite funny too. The one liners are witty (“this is a two million dollar home” lol), and a scene with Al’s father expressing the severity of his situation, brought laughs.
The experience of the movie goes at it’s own rhythm, which make the deviations feel abrupt. I was more compelled with it’s main story. Dogleg often settles in a nice groove, a scene featuring a casting agent inspecting actor’s laughs transitions into Al coasting the L.A. streets in a daze. At it’s best, it offers a mid30s look on the pressures of life, the difficulties of filmmaking. It’s shot in a baked, sunlight heavy, grainy haze but clearly modern style. It also shows Al Warren as a significant voice in the indie world. At a post q&a, Warren stood by his movie and proclaimed: “We started on this years ago. The movie we would make now is entirely different, but this is what we came up with then.” Dogleg is an interesting movie set in the iphone generation, with no iphones in sight. It’s as original as it feels nostaligic.
Dogleg screened in L.A. 4/13-16, NYC 4/22-5/2, and London 5/6.