A Boy and His Dog

It is surprising that six years before Mad Max 2 ushered in a boom of post-apocalyptic trash flicks, a film was made that we can see as a thorough satire of that whole genre category. A Boy and His Dog is not another film from the ranks of genre movies, as it is believed to be by the dozens of disappointed fans here who cannot get over the fact that this time they aren’t watching another western set in the ruins of civilisation. Instead, the film offers a caustic view of the very foundations of many macho genres. The post-apocalyptic setting doesn’t serve as an excuse to revive archetypal yet anachronistic narratives, but as the backdrop for the elucidating fall of all civilisational pretexts that disguise the animalistic nature of human existence. The titular boy and his dog are actually two sides of a human being, where the boy personifies the shallow libido, whose ego, strengthened by civilisational development, has been overcome by nature’s imperative to reproduce, but cannot get rid of his compulsion to ejaculate. Conversely, the dog represents the intellect and its desire to survive, which may paradoxically meant that his existential need is food. The two of them enjoy the unrestrained nature of life in the post-apocalyptic desert before the boy is lured into a bizarre civilisation that places the survival of the species above all else, though only for the purpose of preserving the power apparatuses, which leads to an absurd form of polygamy and control of sexual activity. The film’s final point brilliantly punctuates all of the consideration of the relationship of civilisation and monogamy toward the unbridledness proclaimed by all adventure stories. (05/05/2013)

The concept of the world itself is quite intriguing - America is a radioactive wasteland, a young man communicates telepathically with his dog, there's a scarcity of women, and a struggle to claim one for himself. Then throw in some other weird characters. Unfortunately, it's neither weird enough, nor action-packed enough, nor funny enough, nor dramatic enough to be rated any better. (10/13/2015)