Stray (2020)
Being a massive fan of dogs, particularly grilled Shih Tzus with a light soy glaze and fresh ginger, this very random, award winning film caught my eye. Stray is a documentary about the street dogs of Istanbul and I didn’t know what to expect. Certainly not recipes.
If you were hungry going into Stray, Elizabeth Lo’s film is all shot at dog height, meaning a lot of canine chocolate starfish cinematography. Now, most of us don’t need or indeed want to see the world from a dog’s arsehole perspective, but that’s why Stray is so good. When something shows you something you didn’t know you needed to see it’s rather brilliant, and mercifully street dogs are mostly well looked after in Turkey so there’s no worms blurring the fascinating furry film.
There’s no narration and when you do hear people speak it isn't to camera, Stray is literally a dog’s (brown) eye view of the world. Filmed over a couple of years, Zeytin and her part time pal Nazar roam the streets scavenging, finding friends in Syrian refugees and most brilliantly, just being dogs. Dogs in every way. Homeless dogs still find a pile of sand a fucking delight and even though Stray is rated 18, it is not depressing…
Well, depending on how much you find child refugees upsetting, but that’s what speaks to Lo’s work so well, even with so much going on you’re just focussed on the doggies. Uniquely captivating and clever cinema. It even has some memorable laughs; canine consent being my favourite.
Stray only just clocks in at feature length (72 minutes) and if you aren’t a bastard is largely heart-warming. Learning about Turkey’s pragmatic, progressive and even caring attitude towards stray animals is the kind of small knowledge which documentaries are there to supply. I loved it. 8/10
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