My Life as a Dog (1985)

Although the Netflix summary mentions only summer, I recalled from what little I had already seen of this movie that it gets snowy -- not a surprise for Sweden. It turns out that we hear the characters preparing for Christmas near the end, so I was not remiss in my timing of this viewing.

Not that the mood is especially upbeat. A slice of life based loosely on the writer's real life, it follows preteen Ingemar during his mother's severe illness and beyond, which he first understands as a nervous breakdown from having to deal with him and his older brother fighting. Each brother is sent away to extended family; their dog Sickan (no pun intended, I presume) is said to go to a kennel, but Ingemar grows increasingly suspicious of her fate. At his most frustrated, he has his own sort of breakdown, exhibiting canine behaviors that explain the title, albeit not for much screen time.

I spent much of the movie wondering about Ingemar's age. While Wikipedia reports him as 12, I would have pegged him for a little younger. Only one of his peers, Saga, a tomboy worried about no longer getting to play sports with boys, shows any compelling sign of a growth spurt. (Might I mention how awkward it feels to see her inviting Ingemar to touch her exposed A-cups, not least because the excerpt I'd seen before looked potentially G-rated.) He frequently acts immature, as by crying over wet bedsheets. He's just discovering the grown female form, both fascinated and intimidated by it. He reads aloud slowly. But between the stressors and my later realization of the '50s setting, I can accept 12.

Ingemar's barking might be the most memorable aspect, but he has other unusual ways to express his stress. When he tries to drink from a glass with anyone watching, his hands shake to the point that it becomes impossible. Several times, especially early on, he reflects on tragedies reported in the news a while ago, such as the one-way trip of Laika (yup, more dog stuff), not very relevant or parallel to his own life but possibly reminding him of his comparative fortune. I think that that last behavior did the most to make me feel sorry for him, if only because it's halfway mature and not a nuisance to anyone else.

Don't get me wrong; the story's not all misery. Ingemar's bond with one uncle, even at the annoyance of his aunt, is pretty heartwarming. He befriends multiple ladies, both his own age and much older, never crossing an unforgivable line with them or vice versa. Certain reconciliations are rather cute, not least in the last scene.

Do I recommend MLaaD? For consideration, anyway. For the Christmas season? Maybe if you have something like my family's viewing tradition, which we thankfully did not practice this year.