The dog days of summer are here! To celebrate, we thought we would devote a little time to my all time favorite cinematic canine, Carlos Sorín’s Bombón: El Perro (2004). I discovered this thanks to a series that Austin Film Society did back in 2008 called More Than Buenos Aires: Film Renaissance in Argentina and it remains one of the best curated series that I have ever seen. That was also the first time I encountered Lucrecia Martel’s La Ciénaga, which we profiled in episode 025. Those films have stuck with me, popping up in my life in unexpected places for almost a decade now, but Bombón is the one that never fails to put a smile on my face. Its modesty and warmth is something you don’t often get from contemporary films. People are often in such a hurry to complicate things, assuming it makes them somehow more interesting. It is the rare film that has so much confidence in the better angels of our nature and the simple joys of being on this earth that it can stay out of its own way. This film does precisely that. It doesn’t hurt that it has such a steadfast and noble dog as its co-pilot. This really is the greatest dog movie I have seen, as it manages to be sweet and true without devolving into treacle and manipulative sentimentality. I show it to everyone I can and I hope we inspire you to go check it out!

What you’ll find in this episode: Patagonia and how every trip is a journey, a brief history of the Argentine Dogo, how film audiences always expect the worst, the neorealist tradition in film, buying a cake with your last peso, and man’s best friend.

– Cole

Links and Recommendations:

Check out Bombón: El Perro on IMDB.

Ericca’s further viewing pick of Boyhood.

Cole’s further viewing pick of Wendy and Lucy.

The American Kennel Club profile of the Argentine Dogo.

The mystery and wonder to be found exploring the landscape of Patagonia.