@Cineworld, Edinburgh Sun 26 Jun 2016
As part of Edinburgh International Film Festival
Philip John/ UK/ 2016/ 90 mins
Director Philip John once played bass in DIY punk band Reptile Ranch and his feature debut is infused with a snotty, rebellious spirit, and would have made a far more stirring opening film for EIFF than the turgid, worthy Tommy’s Honour. He’s also directed several episodes of Outlander, so he knows how to present the rugged beauty of northern Scotland, and the landscape is as much a star of this coming-of-age road movie as its young actors.
Step-brothers Michael and musical polymath Thor (Jack Parry Jones and Christy O’Donnell) take off from their home on Shetland, both of them aiming for Glasgow, although for differing reasons. Michael wants to reconnect with his student girlfriend; Thor wants to track down the mother who abandoned him at birth. They hook up with the intriguing Caitlin (Tara Lee), and the three bike, boat and hitchhike through Scotland.
It’s a simple and familiar story, but writers Derek Boyle and Raymond Friel have crafted some dramatically embellished, but still very real, complex and flawed characters in whose company we are never less than fully invested. Michael and Thor’s relationship is spiky and antagonistic, over living arrangements and subsequent entanglements with Caitlin. In many ways it’s reminiscent of Alfonso Cuarón’s Mexican drama Y to Mama Tambien, as the two young men have their heads turned by an experienced, more worldly woman.
Caitlin herself could have been just another Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but she’s more a puckish agent of chaos than a cute free spirit, and her mischief has the potential to have dangerous consequences. Tara Lee plays her with enough of a hint of turmoil to suggest a troubled past, yet these reasons remain mysterious; and the slightly vindictive edge to her character is most enjoyable.
Moon Dogs is a thoroughly impressive debut feature full of earthy grit and a clash between the traditional and the progressive. Thor begins the film baffling the locals of Shetland with his new take on folk music, yet he resists his father’s attempts to bond with him and get him to join in the local Viking festival. Similarly, Philip John has taken tried-and-tested ingredients and come up with something winningly bracing, with its own spin; and really, that’s as much as you can ask a director to do.
It is isn’t earth-shattering, but its lack of soupy sentiment or calculated whimsy makes it a real winner. Even the requisite uplifting ending is beautifully calibrated. It’s being replayed this Sunday as part of the Best of the Fest screenings, and it’s hard to argue with it being judged worthy of a third screening.
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