Sheldon Cohen " I Want a Dog" (2003)

Yesterday I featured a movie the music from which transports one back to a different era. I Want A Dog is an animated short that wants to be a musical. Featuring a well scrubbed, suburban Canada sometime in 1957, Sheldon Cohen’s infectious movie features a young girl whose desperation to have her own dog knows no bounds. Endlessly inventive, totally dedicated to the cause, May sets out to persuade reluctant parents of the need for a pooch. “Lassie Come Home" plays at the Late Night Cinema, hedges are manicured, a roller skate boot is polished up with real wax from a tin and children play securely on the streets with not a predator in sight. The film’s bright, appealing images are a recreation of Dayal Kaur Khalsa’s “I Want a Dog” (1994 Tundra Books) whilst the soundtrack is one to savour - Zander Ary‘s score and doo-wop vocals, Neko Case's stand-out closing song and a doggie chorus for Johann Strauss’s “Waltz of the Blue Danube”. Marnie McPhail narrates a charmer of a short for children of all ages. The National Film Board of Canada commissions some rare movies. Be warned, the Neko Case song lingers in the head.