I, too, was expecting something a little more avant-garde and difficult – I definitely wasn’t expecting something so visceral and moving. I love these small films (I’m also thinking of Man Push Cart and Chop Shop) that let us inside the lives of people we often overlook. I’m reminded of the line spoken by the mother, who worked as a cleaning lady – I can’t recall it verbatim, but it was something about how it didn’t matter if she showed up to work with a black eye, no one ever noticed she was there, anyway.

On another note, I totally teared up during Mickey Rourke’s speech. That one line had to have made that one of the best acceptance speeches I’ve ever heard.

Here’s to dogs.