Film Festival film #6: Sleeping Dogs Lie

[bcholmes]

Bobcat Goldthwait's Sleeping Dogs Lie is a narrative film. The main character, Amy, had a brief sexual encounter with her dog much earlier in her life. The crux of the film is that Amy's new fiance, John, is pushing for deeper and deeper trust and intimacy; should Amy tell him about this incident?

She talks, in the abstract, about this question with other characters: her co-worker, Ed, and later her mother, who both seem to advocate that honesty is the right way to go. So, while John and Amy are visiting her parents, she tells him (and is overheard by her meth-head brother). Soon, she's facing revulsion from John, and rejection from her family.

She and John end up breaking up. And not long afterward, she starts a relationship with Ed, and is essentially drawn into the same dilemma. Ed knows that something big happened, and when a tragedy in Amy's family causes her to return to her parent's house, "Amy's secret" is hovering in the air, behind every interaction.

The film is really funny, and the performances are top-notch (impressive, given the obviously limited budget). But it also has a lot of really sad moments. Ultimately, though, the film seems to kinda conclude that sometimes you should just lie, which, hmmm.