My Life as a Dog - Criterion Collection | 
| Director: Lasse Hallstroem
Actors: Anton Glanzelius, Stig Engstroem, Anita Ekstroem, Goeran Stangertz, Lena Lindgren
Studio: Criterion
Category: DVD
List Price: $39.95
Buy Used: $19.94
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Rating:  46 reviews
Sales Rank: 10399
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dvd, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: Swedish (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 101 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: PMIDMYL010D
ISBN: 0780026217
UPC: 037429173527
EAN: 9780780026216
ASIN: B000087EY5
Theatrical Release Date: March 24, 1987
Release Date: March 11, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Ingemar is a working-calss 12 year old sent to live with his uncle in a country village when his mother falls ill. Once there ingemar finds refuge from his misfortunes & unexpected adventures with the help of the towns warmhearted eccentrics. Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 03/11/2003 Run time: 101 minutes Director: Lasse Hallstrom
Amazon.com
Simultaneously elegiac and raw, this uneven--but unforgettable--tearjerker tells the story of Ingemar, a 12-year-old working-class Swedish boy sent to live with his childless aunt and uncle in a country village when his mother falls ill. Beginning with several representations of the most savage, unsentimental domestic intensity imaginable (interplay between a sick parent and loving child has never looked anywhere near as explosive), My Life as a Dog wisely doesn't attempt to maintain that level of danger; rather, the change in locale to rural Sweden is accompanied by a slackening of pace and a whimsical breeziness. Nevertheless, the tragic condition of Ingemar's mother (and later, the indeterminate fate of Sickan, his beloved dog, consigned to a kennel) hovers over the narrative with a gripping portentousness. At times, director Lasse Hallstroem misplaces the rhythm, and the film threatens to degenerate into a series of rustic vignettes; luckily, Ingemar's relationship with Gunnar, the jocular yet somewhat sinister uncle who essentially adopts him, carries a fascinating charge. In Swedish, with subtitles. This was later rewritten, whether intentionally or not, by Spike Lee, who changed the gender of the child, set the story in New York City, added a 1970s soul soundtrack, and called it Crooklyn. --Miles Bethany
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| Customer Reviews: Read 41 more reviews...
 Soft psycho movie May 2, 2009
Michael Kerjman (The Earth)
A film of a boy as mother of him was passing away. I feel story's soft inclination to Julien Donkey-Boyalso Sweden's movie had originated earlier.
Swedish Charmer March 20, 2009
Craig Connell (Lockport, NY USA)
This Swedish film offers a different kind of story and a strangely appealing one.
Anton Glanzelius is good as the 12-year-old who not only stars in the movie but does a good job narrating it as well. When he finds himself in a tough situation, he always compares himself to something worse, such as a Soviet space dog and its unfortunate lot. The tomboyish-looking young girl who flirts with him, Melinda Kinnaman, is fun to watch, too. I wonder what she looks like now as an adult?
For kids that young, I thought there was a little too much emphasis on sex, but mostly it's just natural curiosity of what the other sex looks like, and the intentions are innocent.
Overall, it is a charming film with almost all (one exception: his older brother) likable people.
An film about a snippet of life. April 24, 2008
Amanda J. Evans (Australia)
This film seems ordinary when watching it though interesting, but by the time the story comes to a close you realize you've enjoyed to whole film and that it's a beautiful story.I think this is a story that reaches out to all who watch it and that we can all relate to it on one level or another.
It is an honest and lovely film, well recommended.
 Essential cinema: Hallstroem's 'Mitt liv som hund.' July 25, 2007
G. Merritt (Boulder, CO)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Swedish director, Lars Sven (Lasse) Hallstroem's (1946) film, My Life as a Dog (Mitt liv som hund) (1985) tells the bittersweet story of a working-class 12-year-old, Ingemar (Anton Ganzelius), who is sent to live with his uncle Gunnar (Tomas von Broemssen) and his wife Ulla (Kicki Rundgren) in a small rural town in Smaland, after his mother (Anki Liden) becomes terminally ill. In Smaland, he encounters a variety of warmhearted eccentics: Saga (Melinda Kinnaman), a tomboy who repeatedly beats him in boxing; Fransson (Magnus Rask), a man who continually fixes the roof of his house; and Mr. Arviddson (Didrik Gustavsson), an old man living downstairs who asks Ingemar to read to him from a lingerie catalog. At one especially memorable point in the film, Ingemar clings to Saga's leg and starts barking like a dog. Upset by his strange behavior, Saga tells Ingemar during a boxing match that his beloved family dog, Sickan (which he had thought was in a kennel) has been euthanized. This, along with his mother's death, is too much for Ingemar. He reassures himself throughout the film that it could have been worse, reciting several examples, such as the man who took a shortcut onto the field during a track meet only to be killed by a javelin, and the story of the dog "Laika," the first creature sent into orbit by the Russians (without any way to return to Earth). Hallstroem later went on to direct What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Something to Talk About, The Cider House Rules, and An Unfinished Life.
My Life as a Dog is among my all-time film favorites, and it consistently ranks in critical top movie lists. The Criterion edition offers an amazingly crisp digital transfer of the film, with a clear soundtrack and score, a 52-minute film by Lasse Hallstroem: Shall We Go to Your or My Place or Each Go Home Alone?, a video interview with Lasse Hallstroem, and Kurt Vonnegut's reflections on My Life as a Dog.
G. Merritt
My Life as a Dog July 9, 2007
John Farr
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Hallstroem's winning tribute to the joys and sorrows of childhood skillfully balances bleak realism with poignant humor. It's hard not to love Glazelius, both for his outstanding performance and for his character's habit of comparing himself to those (like Laika) he believes are worse off. "My Life" is filled with rich characters and priceless scenes, like Ingemar's punishing loss in the boxing ring to a tomboy he's got a crush on, and the disquieting interactions he has with his ailing mother. Hallstroem later helmed big Hollywood projects like "The Cider House Rules" and "Chocolat," but here he's at his heart-piercing best.
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