Hounddog (2007) Reviews

• There WAS a point.....

  davidfrazier422007-04-09

  To keep it brief the movie was just OK for me although there were a couple of decent performances. As a southerner I always hate it when I hear overly exaggerated Southern drawl. It's like fingernails screeching down a blackboard to me. In retrospect I quite liked David Morse' character. In my opinion he took far more risk than Ms. Fanning as the "addled" father. We also got a glimpse of the gifted singer Jill Scott. What was the point? Simple. Music can be used as a conduit for healing when no other options exist AND that there is less difference between white and black than there is between rich and poor. You had to watch the whole movie, pay attention and understand that the rape scene was part of the set up for the true message and not the point of the movie itself. I could ramble on......but I won't.

• If it were French, Americans would be singing its praises

  fertilecelluloid2008-09-24

  If "Houndog" were French, it would be praised as a worthy study of a child on the brink of adolescence. But because it's American, it gets attacked (primarily) for its subject because the majority of Americans are uncomfortable with on- or off-screen sexuality (unless it's the crude "American Pie" kind) and uncomfortable with depictions of other Americans that don't adhere to their idealistic perceptions of themselves -- as winners. Deborah Kampmeier's understated film is not about winners and losers; it is about finding a safe personal harbor. Dakota Fanning, who slips into the skin of her character and never sheds it, plays a precocious young girl, living in an impoverished Southern town, who is fixated on Elvis Presley and his imminent tour of the region. Unable to afford tickets to his concert, Dakota is given an opportunity to perform "Hounddog" for a local teenager in exchange for tickets. Instead, she gets raped. Three carefully chosen shots illustrate the act. None are explicit. Laden with the weight of disappointment and betrayal, Dakota becomes solemn and depressed, but is gradually eased out of her state and into her safe harbor by the kind-hearted Charles (Afimo Omelami) and his love of blues music. Of course, there is a lot more to "Hounddog" than what I've described. It is a gentle, understated study of childhood curiosity and exploration. Dakota's character is sexually curious in the way all of us (as children) once were. Her behavior and performance is natural and unforced. David Morse, who plays her father, is striking as man who journeys from aggressive deadbeat to passive simpleton after he is struck by lightning. Piper Laurie, playing an older, less extreme version of her Margaret White from "Carrie", achieves the perfect balance as Dakota's "Mother". Rounding out the cast is the subdued Robin Wright Penn as a woman whose grasp on life is tentative at best and the excellent Cody Hanford as Dakota's young friend, with whom she is testing the anxiety-ridden waters of adolescence. The cinematography of the stunning Southern shantytown and some moody interiors by the ever-reliable Ed Lachman (and two other contributors) is excellent, as is the score by Meshell Ndegeocello. Though this doesn't achieve the emotional resonance of similar films like the Czech "The Crow", the Japanese "Muddy River" or the French "Le Grande Chemin", it is a fine achievement that has much in common with European cinema and little in common with contemporary American cinema ("Lawn Dogs" and "Bastard Out of Carolina" excepted).

• Ultimately very disappointing.

  MattD120272007-01-24

  This is a bad film. It is not really Dakota's fault, but to be honest I wasn't really impressed with her this time around. I felt like she was a little too much, a little too melodramatic, and definitely not as real as she is in her other films. The real problems with this film lie in the directing, the script, and the pacing. It's poorly filmed (though beautifully lensed), the script panders to too many stereotypes to even enumerate, and even though it's very short, it crawls along. All the controversy about the rape is unfounded, too, because it actually is only a very small piece of the movie. You see her face twice and her hand once, and you hear her. I'd say it was 45 seconds. Maybe not even that long. Anyways, color me disappointed. Definitely not worth all the hype, and I really wish Dakota could have found a better filmmaker(s) and film(s) during all the time she wasted as this film sat in preproduction. I hope this doesn't affect her career too much.

• A comment from someone who has seen the film

  rebelgyrl052007-01-26

  I just watched the final Sundance screening of this film earlier this evening. It was excellent. I found it to a highly emotional film with a very powerful message. Also, Dakota Fanning has a beautiful voice for someone who had never sang before filming began. Not beautiful as in technically perfect, but beautiful in the way it conveyed the emotions of the character at the time. Just to clarify for all of those who haven't seen it, there is no pornography in this movie. In fact, Utah's Attorney General watched it for himself, and said that it does not break any laws and contains no child pornography. Please withhold judgment until you have actually seen it.

• Great movie not pointless at all not gross

  danarox142008-09-28

  This was really an excellent movie. Anyone who says this movie was pointless or boring I don't have any idea why. This movie was the complete opposite, I think it was the first movie I've seen in a long time that had a point and was not mindless or boring. I'm a fourteen year old and the movie was great, it was very relatable even though I haven't been through any sexual abuse. If a movie can relate to me so deeply even though I didn't grow up in that time period, grew up in New York City, and did not go through some of the things she went through then I really think it's an excellent movie. The content was not disturbing to me at all in a sense most people say. I think most people who say it's disturbing haven't seen the movie because yes, it is very real and true but not gross. I think it's great the director/writer touched on the subject of sexual abuse in such a great way because that subject is not brought up often in our society but it's something that is happening. I was not sure of seeing this movie-not because of the rape scene because I knew people were making such a big deal of it but because of the other comments about how the movie wasn't going anywhere or was pointless. But I was so surprised that they were so wrong and that for me and from what I could see in the audience it was the complete opposite of pointless. Bottom line if you haven't seen the movie already and aren't sure if you ant to go and see it, go and see it. I wasn't sure if I should see this movie either but it turned out to be one of the best movies I've seen in a long time with great writing, directing, and acting. Very real but not gross or disturbing and a story that needed to be told.