Ivan and the Dogs

"Lek and the Dogs" is the most overtly experimental of Andrew Kotting's films, the one closest to the art-gallery rather than the art-house. It is based loosely on the play "Ivan and the Dogs" about a boy who leaves his home in Russia and goes to live with a pack of wild dogs though there is nothing theatrical or even concrete about Kotting's handling of the material which is composed of a series of images linked to some degree by a series of chapter headings and Lek's narration, each complimenting the other.

You could say it's aimed, not at a cinema audience, but to those who prefer watching video installations though it might also sit well on a double bill with Wes Anderson's "Isle of Dogs" while the Russian connection should remind you of Tarkovsky. It's also more approachable than it sounds thanks in large part to the casting of Xavier Tchili as Lek who seems to live and breathe the role until it ceases to be a performance. Top marks, too, to the remarkable sound design and to Nick Gordon Smith's extraordinary cinematography. Definitely a key work in experimental cinema.