Search - Baxter on DVD

A sequel to old Yeller?

05/07/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If Old Yeller had lived further into his rabid state and learned to make love with his face He'd have been a lot like Baxter.I found this movie at a now defunct video store in their dog movie section.It was right next to beethoven and bingo and its cover declared it one of the ten best movies of the year.I forget what movies came out in 1991 but, I think it is the best french movie I've ever seen Femme Nikita included.I'd say some people will find it slow at first but, I personally spent the first 20 minutes giggling whenever the dog spoke french.The very end is in my opinion one of the two most coldblooded scenes in movie history."

Great movie, but horrifying and at moments darkly (uber-dark

S. C. Watson | WA | 07/26/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This movie is not for the faint of heart or for those easily upset. It's an imaginative and well-made movie, full of uncomfortable pathos. Baxter is an intelligent and sensitive bull terrier who longs to find the right master. His narration is brilliant in dark, slightly sultry French--the man's voice is perfect. It's a very human depiction. For example, Baxter eroticizes the young woman who is his owner for a short time, then kills out of his jealousy for her affection. I found myself moved and disturbed by his desires, and also enthralled with the brutality. It's a mean little movie and with violence against children and animals (I don't believe that much of it is shown--but it's still upsetting), as well as Nazi references that may out-and-out offend people. As a litmus test, if you saw the film Parents (a great, but dark psychological thriller and comedy) or Curdled, then I think you might appreciate Baxter. If you're wondering where the comedy in the film is, then I would have to say it's in the deadpan narration juxtaposed with the scenes. It's not ha-ha comedy, but chilling and ultra dark.



Some of the reviewers were upset by the brutality or the depiction of the dog as evil, and my take was different. I didn't think of Baxter as evil, so much as passionate and misled by his desire to serve the right master (some good commentary on Nazi Germany). Overall, I don't think the director's intent was to glorify the violence or meanness, but to make us think of the ways in which we inadvertently create monsters and to make those monsters, be it a lonely and cruel boy or a dog with human desires, sympathetic. I feel terrible for anyone who accidentally rented this as a family movie. This is an artsy film geared at adults who aren't put off by pervosity, think Gods and Monsters or Apt Pupil. A tough movie, but thought provoking."

Thru the mirror darkly

Yumi | LA CA USA | 07/12/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Baxter goes thru three masters.The first, an elderly lady who didn't like him or understand him.The second was the "paradise" he would view from the old ladies window, the loving young couple across the street.This blissful match was shortlived by the arrival of THE BABY.Finally he goes to a boy who he feels total camaraderie with. This is a boy, who writes the word "Pain" in his journal and then smashes his palm down on a thumbtack...Baxter is in heaven with his new master that he thinks is similar to him...until the boy orders him to do something that goes against his grain (did the boy think he was an animal?) and finally disobeys, which was his salvation and his ruin.Among the many haunting scenes in this movie, is the one scene where the boy is looking out of the same window that Baxter used to look out onto the young couples "paradise", longing to belong to them.It's sort of circular like The Tenant.
I understand how some people would dislike this movie,but I feel it has redeeming qualities. It didn't spoon feed me pat smug answers."

Creepy

SpookyChick | in tha' world! | 12/06/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This one gets under your skin. It spooked the crud out of me, and I only watched it one time. This is not a family-type dog movie. It's very much for adults. Giving away the plot would be dirty pool, but let me tell you this-- you'll never look at your pet the same way again."