Review: Black Dog - 2023 BFI London Film Festival

George Jaques’ ‘Black Dog’ is a charming, human debut feature, and a fine addition to the long cinematic tradition of buddy road trip movies. He, and Jamie Flatters who also stars, first assemble their odd couple: Nathan (Flatters) and Sam (Keenan Munn-Francis). Fresh out of foster care, Nathan is on a mission to Scotland with hopes of a family reunion. Sam is headed to the borders for his own, private reasons; he also has a car.

Their paths collide, or rather re-collide when Nathan simultaneously saves Sam from a violent mugging and steals his wallet. Nathan is first to recognise his primary school chum, stopping by Sam’s middle class home to return the wallet, now cash-free. What begins as a lift to the train station, swiftly evolves into a road trip to Newcastle where Sam can drop Nathan en route to Alnwick.

It’s a pleasure to watch both of these rising stars of the screen create fully-rounded, sympathetic characters. Flatters inhabits Nathan with the ease of a familiar soul, creating a loveable rogue with problematic edges. Munn-Francis, in many ways ‘Black Dog’s’ straight man, is a superb foil to the other’s excesses. Both are vulnerable, but where Nathan’s heart beats a polka on his sleeve, Sam buries his emotion under self-hatred, and a desperate need for control. However, as superb as their individual performances may be, it’s their buoyant, organic chemistry which makes the film work.

Director of Photography Hamish Anderson does well to capture both characters, their interior worlds, and the one they share. Nathan’s wonder at seeing the world outside of London is palpable, a sort of joy which slowly infects Sam’s more confined, eyes-forward outlook. Theirs a wonderfully boyish intimacy to their impromptu day at the beach, the jaunty angles and framing recalling happy days of boisterous infancy past.

Elevating ‘Black Dog’ further from the road trip pack is restraint. There’s nothing overdone or overblown about either character, and no promises made either of doom or happy endings. Each hour in their lives is equally prone to joy or disaster, each one a hostage to their, and each others’ choices. There’s nothing so cliched as mutual learning happening, but Nathan’s extrovert freedom strikes sparks from Sam’s instinctual introversion. That is to say, they are friends, possibly the first true friend the other has known.

However, the film is called ‘Black Dog’ for a reason. If Sam’s depression is a weight constantly threatening to pull him under, Nathan’s aching need to be loved and fear of his unlovability makes his every choice a fraught experience. Jacques and Flatters don’t claim to know the answers to their needs, but there’s a surety in ‘Black Dog’ that true friendship can at least help.

All of which sounds terribly clever and noble, but be reassured, ‘Black Dog’ is a wonderfully funny movie. Nathan is one of life’s rarer creatures, a joker who is actually funny…and also really irritating. Sam is endearing, and a gift to humans of Nathan’s comic sensibilities. Their shared antics on the road and off, through off-licenses and hotel lobbies are a hoot.

Jacques’ finds a balance between light and dark, comedy and tragedy right in the Goldilocks zone. The result is a compact, concise adventure, and two heroes whom the audience can invest in, and care about. The risk of their nascent alliance collapsing ever-present, we can cheer every time they choose the other over themselves. The film even finds itself a suitably elegant ending, one which leaves the watcher with hope, but few answers. Sam and Nathan may never meet again (or they might!), but their brief time together has changed their lives.

‘Black Dog’ is an Athenaeum Productions, 27 Ten production in association with Trademark Films and Sharp House.