The Friend
“What’s going to happen to the dog?” Writerly, overlong but subtly profound, The Friend is a slow paced but warmly emotional exploration of a wo(man)’s best friend - both furry and fleshed - as she journeys through grief and creative frustration towards hope and recovery with a fantastic Naomi Watts at its core, navigating a messy story. Discussion Points: For a film about writers and editors, I wish the film was better written and edited. Sadly too long, and poorly paced - the film feels like it was going to end 30 minutes early only to tack on another 20 minutes of story. But Naomi Watts is fantastic, alongside the rest of the ensemble, the heart is in the right place and there’s lots of cute dogs 🐕! It’s a film that steadily creeps up on you and ultimately delivers a profound and impactful reflection of grief, loss, and legacy - but it takes a long winding messy distracted route to get there. Side plots and side characters feel like literary appendixes that are sup...
