Heart of a Dog

Heart of a Dog

Criterion Collection Edition #846

HEART OF A DOG marks the first feature film in thirty years by multimedia artist Laurie Anderson. A cinematic tone poem that flows from a sustained meditation on death and other forms of absence, the film seamlessly weaves together thoughts on Tibetan Buddhism, reincarnation, the modern surveillance state, and the artistic lives of dogs, with an elegy for the filmmaker's beloved rat terrier, Lolabelle, at its heart. Narrated by Anderson with her characteristic wry wit, and featuring a plaintive, free-form score by the filmmaker, the tender and provocative HEART OF A DOG continues Anderson's four-and-a-half-decade career of imbuing the everyday with a sense of dreamlike wonder.

Heart of a Dog
  • Heart of a Dog

    Directed by Laurie Anderson • 2015 • United States

    HEART OF A DOG marks the first feature film in thirty years by multimedia artist Laurie Anderson. A cinematic tone poem that flows from a sustained meditation on death and other forms of absence, the film seamlessly weaves together thoughts on...

Extras

  • Retelling

    HEART OF A DOG’s director, Laurie Anderson, and Jake Perlin, a coproducer of the film, discuss the making of the film and its link to past works by Anderson, including the films HOME OF THE BRAVE and HIDDEN INSIDE MOUNTAINS, the theatrical piece “Delusion,” and others. The conversation was record...

  • HEART OF A DOG Deleted Scene: “What the Mind Sees”

    In the following deleted scene from HEART OF A DOG, director Laurie Anderson describes some secret wall paintings that illustrate Buddhist concepts of time.

  • HEART OF A DOG Deleted Scene: “On the Way to Jerusalem”

    In the following deleted scene from HEART OF A DOG, director Laurie Anderson tells the story of a nun who makes a pilgrimage wearing a bag on her head.

  • Concert for Dogs

    On January 4, 2016, Laurie Anderson performed her “Concert for Dogs” in New York City’s Times Square, in honor of 9/11 first responders’ dogs. The music was transmitted to audience members through headphones and to the dogs via low-decibel speakers, while footage from HEART OF A DOG played on vid...

  • Lolabelle’s Christmas Card

    The following piece features director Laurie Anderson’s dog Lolabelle.