M, 119 minutes
4 Stars
Review by © Jane Freebury
This sweet story about canine companionship combines a little sadness with a dash of wry humour. Some of the laughs are at the expense of people who let their pets run the show, while other fun is simply visual, like the scenes with a massive black and white dog out on a walk in Manhattan with a slight, blonde woman. If you subscribe to the view that dogs often resemble their owners, as they apparently can, the two of them are no match at all.
The harlequin Great Dane with upstanding ears and droopy chops looks dejected alongside his petite, foxy companion played by Naomi Watts. Were he to stand beside her on his hind legs he would tower over her. In fact, when seen fleetingly alongside the Bill Murray character who plays his former owner, the huge hound looks taller than him too.
The tall and lanky frame of Murray’s character, Walter, is a much better match for the giant hound than Iris (Watts), the close friend who becomes Apollo the dog’s carer. After Walter took his life, leaving his devoted pet behind, nobody, neither former wives nor lovers nor children and friends, seemed to know quite what to do with him. The grieving hound seemed at a loss, himself.
All Apollo (Bing, in a soulful performance) seemed able to manage was a steady baleful gaze at the world, longing for Walter’s return. Like the famously faithful dog in Japan that waited at the train station for its owner who had died, for ten years. The story of that dog, Hachiko, was one of the inspirations for the popular novel of the same name by Sigrid Nunez on which this movie is based.
Bing, in a soulful performance, manages a baleful stare
A super-large dog is difficult to accommodate at the best of times. Now it’s complicated because Walter’s widow (Noma Dumezweni) doesn’t like dogs at all, and his very good friend Iris is a cat person. In her small, rent-controlled apartment, how could she cope with anything larger than a moggy?
The point is, of course, that both Iris and Apollo have reached an impasse and must join forces to lift themselves out of their doldrums and learn to live again. As a writer, Iris cannot seem to find the inspiration she needs to progress her fiction, aptly named ‘Eastern Bloc’. Her workshops in creative writing aren’t fulfilling either, and she is floundering in her efforts to leave her depression behind. Apollo isn’t trying to do anything much, he just misses Walter, his rascally jogging companion. He also had an ear for his master’s writing.
When Iris unearths old correspondence on Walter’s laptop, content she needs to be across while editing a collection of his letters, it’s an opportunity to re-examine their relationship, and the character of the man. While we feel the presence of Murray’s outsize character behind every scene, Naomi Watt’s expressive face and gestures hold our attention. It is another subtle performance from this terrific actress.
Influence of Murray’s character is big in the backstory, but Watts carries the day
I cannot imagine another actress doing better than Watts as a woman trying to figure out how to get the emotional support that she needs. The actress appears in front of the camera here with minimal makeup and hair pulled back in a natural style that will endear this film to audiences who appreciate a less performative acting style.
We all remember the moment that Naomi Watts took over in David Lynch’s film Mulholland Drive, in a riveting scene with which she, literally, shot to stardom. Other roles, in films like Penguin Bloom, Funny Games and The Impossible, have brought out something she is especially good at, the interpretation of vulnerable women under duress.
The Friend was written and directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegal. The American film director duo has had modest success together, with dramas like What Maisie Knew, about relatable people.
Despite his character’s passing, the influence of Murray’s character dominates the backstory, but he eventually comes in for some shock treatment. In imagined scenes in which Iris interrogates Walter about what motivated him to suicide and how he reflects on the impact on others of his decision to take his life.
It’s an interesting exchange that puts some backbone into this gentle tale that explores the need for emotional support and explains why growing numbers of pets have become integral to our lives.
First published in the Canberra Times on 1 August 2025, and on Rotten Tomatoes