PUPPY LOVE – Review by Justina Walford
Puppy Love is a loving documentary about a healthy litter of Labrador puppies that suddenly become paralyzed. Their breeder, Cindy, is advised to put them down, but she resolves to make them better, taking back every dog that falls ill from their adopters to dedicate her time and resources to their health. In fact, her goal is not only to help them walk, it is to help them thrive as intelligent and active dogs. So she and a group of tenacious women use every possible solution to bring these dogs back to health despite vets and people in the dog community having different opinions.
When I say these women try everything, I mean: They. Try. Everything. We see them use Chinese herbs, water therapy, massage, raw diet, chicken soup, acupuncture, and supplements. There is even a point, spa music plays as they do physical therapy.
My favorite part of this film is the grit of these women. They do not give up. Cindy is too shy to put herself in front of the camera, so we only get glimpses of her. But the other ladies pick up the task of documenting their journey, including the filmmaker herself, Gail Gilbert.
Being only 75 minutes with a lot of fun footage of the dogs, the film feels its length. But even though it paces well, I would have preferred narration and a more structured storyline. Since it ends in Labrador Nationals, I wish we saw more of this being the goal early in the film and possibly used as the spine of the story structure. Also, because all the dogs and all the women are our protagonists, the focus sometimes strays. White is the one dog of the litter that I wish we focused on throughout since he has such a roller coaster of experiences, being the one in the litter struggling most with his paralysis. And I do recommend the film purely to see his journey which is riveting.
First and foremost, if you love dogs and you love the people who go out of their way to take care of them, this is a solid film. Continue reading on THE FEMALE GAZE.
ABOUT JUSTINA WALFORD
An award-winning writer of screen and stage, Justina Walford was also the Founder and Festival Director of Women Texas Film Festival for the life of the fest and she was programming director of Oxford Film Festival for two years. A lover of adrenaline-filled movies since she could understand the word “zombie,” she is particularly drawn to strong women’s voices in alternative genres such as horror, action, and science fiction.
