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The
Film:
Waldo
the Dog is one
of the weirdest film experiences I have ever had - certainly in
recent memory. Unfortunately, the ability to have a unique mind-trip
does not
automatically equate to experiencing something truly worthwhile. That
is
exactly the case with this experimental hodgepodge of conflicting
genres that
clash with one another rather than blend seamlessly into a solid,
enjoyable movie.
The film
stars Rook Kelly as Waldo - a disturbed young
man who wears a dog mask to cope with the nature of his deranged mind
on a
daily basis. The film begins with a series of murders enacted by our
dog-masked
"protagonist" Waldo. These acts of violence are all against murderers,
rapists,
and a larger variety of criminals who have committed horrible
monstrosities against
humanity. The film then flashes quickly to
'Three Years Earlier' and we begin to see documents (slowly, poorly
filmed) explaining
how a mentally-disturbed young man was stalking a young woman, and
detailing
how the man needed a restraining order and psychiatric evaluation. It
doesn't
take long to figure out that these documents are referring to Waldo. In
the
next scene we witness a heinous crime being committed by an unmasked
man - the guy
that would later wind up wearing a dog mask. Then with some brisk
editing another
push through time happens remarkably fast and the film takes its
audience to 'Two
Years Later' (a year prior to the opening scene). A mask-wearing man
now wanders
the streets. Waldo, by all appearances, now spends most of his days
collecting
garbage, holding up signs saying offensive things like "Willing to give
oral
pleasure for cash", sitting around quiet parks doing absolutely
nothing, occasionally
trying to learn how to become a wrestler, and then eventually stalking a
young
woman (of course). Apparently Waldo still has the stalker-bug in him.
How
unfortunate.
 
It
is at this point in the film that Jaquelyn (Jaquelyn
Xavier) is introduced as the young woman being stalked by this clearly
mentally-disturbed man. Eventually they bump into each other. Was it by
coincidence? Nope. Jaquelyn find's Waldo in her home watching her while
wearing
his mask. She yells at him to get out and chases him out of her home.
She is a seemingly
normal woman - she looks sane and acts like a ditz but yet somehow she
decides
to go find this obvious stalker and question him about what he was
doing. Waldo
doesn't speak a word but the two communicate. Jaquelyn asks questions -
Waldo responds
with his body language. They quickly seem to hit it off and essentially
the
pair starts to behave as a boyfriend/girlfriend might - you know...
besides the
stalking issue, the dog mask, lack of real communication, and other
interfering
issues (such as the fact Jaquelyn seems incredibly normal). Jaquelyn is even kind enough to come up with a
name for her mysterious friend who doesn't speak to her - and she
guesses his
name is 'Waldo' while they eat McDonalds. The man in the mask responds
positively to this and claims the name.
I
won't bother ruining the movie's entire sequence
of events or its ending (which managed to take me by surprise). The
first five
minutes or so are interesting enough, but then they are followed by an
hour or
so of content that feels like an actual chore to sit through. The film
becomes
more interesting towards the ending with the interactions between
Jaquelyn and
Waldo increasing my enjoyment, and yet these scenes don't even come
close to
truly working on a fundamental level. Waldo
the Dog almost plays like a parody of sorts as the humor is rather
consistently
awkward and never makes it possible to actually care about these
characters. It's
especially hard to become emotionally invested in the lead character
simply because
he's not portrayed as sympathetic during the majority of the film. Once
I realized
Waldo had been a stalker and that he continued down this path (not to
mention knowledge
I had of an earlier event in the story) it made it impossible for me to
ever
consider rooting for the character. If I had any lingering doubts, one
of the
film's final scenes cemented my opinion. When Waldo opens up a sheet of
paper
and read's three words: "I forgive you", I was both flabbergasted and
offended
by what I had witnessed.
 
The
film would perhaps play better if the opening
acts had not been revealed until the end of the film, and if the
stalking-aspect had been toned down or removed altogether from the
later
portions of the story. Unfortunately, the first hour or so would be
uninteresting
no matter how it had been edited - a short film might have served the
narrative
structure better but then I would have seen the ending coming and the
surprise would
have been ruined.
The
acting was never particularly impressive. I
often had the feeling that many moments were improvised and poorly at
that. The
end credits indicated that the two leads were contributing writers.
This may be
confirmation of my 'theory'. A scene in which Waldo begins to talk with
a
high-pitched squeal to Jaquelyn was particularly odd -- especially when
his voice
began to crack and sounded deep. According to Waldo, he had never
wanted her to
hear his voice and that is why he remained silent for so long. Jaquelyn
responds to the deepness she heard in his voice questioningly and Waldo
just seems
to shrug it all off. The entire scene ends up feeling like a bad joke
the
audience isn't even meant to be a part of. Later in the film it becomes
clearer
why Waldo was so obviously masking his voice - what was not so clear
was why anyone
would be expected to believe for even a single second the interactions
of the
two characters in the earlier scene.
The
cinematography is nicely done with a surprisingly
effective use of colors for an indie low-budget production. The
director
clearly had some interesting visual ideas as well. Shots are framed in
often
unique and interesting ways that suggest a better film could have been
a real possibility.
I certainly would be interested in seeing another film by
writer/director Kris
Canonizado in the future. However, I would caution the film-maker to
reconsider
the narrative structure of Waldo the Dog
and to re-evaluate his plans for any upcoming project. Lastly, if
Canonizado actually
intends to make a 'Waldo 2' next I would not be so interested.
The
DVD:
Video:
The
video quality was better than
expected, and features a 1:78:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation. I
can't
claim to know what type of digital camera was used to film this movie
(perhaps
Digital SLR?), but I can say that it looked surprisingly rich in color
and had
a 'clean' naturalistic appearance. The video was only occasionally the
victim
of some poor compression issues (such as minor pixilation).
Audio:
There
are no setup options. 2.0 English-language
audio is the only option. No subtitles are found on this release. The
audio was
often too loud, and was clearly not mixed as well as it perhaps could
have been.
The good news is that when dialog is used it is clearly defined.
Extras:
There
isn't even a menu or an ability to select
scenes.
On
the subject of the DVD packaging: I feel it is
worth noting that this CreateSpace release doesn't even include the
title of
the movie on the cover art spine.
Final
Thoughts:
Waldo the Dog was certainly an interesting experiment. It is
unfortunate then that the film is marred by a weak first-half, and an
ending
that doesn't manage to evoke any sympathy for the characters. The good
news is
that the film suggests director Kris Canonizado has a commendable sense of how
to
create interesting visuals - which should serve him well in the future.
Skip
It.
Neil Lumbard is a lifelong fan of cinema, and a student who aspires to make movies. He loves writing, and currently does in Texas. |
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