Dog lover? Then you might like this movie!

Hachi - A Dog's Tale.

If you like dogs and/or really dug that Marley & Me movie you might like this one, which I don't think too many people know about? (I could be wrong.) Though I have to say upfront this movie is 10 times more heart wrenching than the Marley movie was, IMHO. (Though not in a dog gets abused/physically hurt sort of way. Nothing like that goes on here.) It's the true story (Americanized for this version) of a Japanese dog. If you want to be spoiled, wiki it. This version is the same thing. It's amazing and beautifully done but you *will* be openly sobbing by the end. Not crying - SOBBING. Just thinking about it now, a few days later, and I get sniffly! It looks gorgeous, the music score is perfect and haunting and, you know, the dog is cute too. :)

I first heard of this movie because it was filmed in Woonsocket, RI, just a couple miles from where we lived in Cumberland, RI before we moved here to Connecticut. It was a big deal to have Richard Gere trotting about town doing his thing. I always kept on the look out for when the movie would be released but unfortunately the movie never found a distributor to get a big release in this country. It even took awhile to find it's way to DVD. It was neat to see all the downtown shots. They make Woonsocket seem like this sleepy kind of college town.............*snort* It's a mostly dirty inner city in real life. (No more so than any other overstuffed, over populated, high crime, inner city though, just to be clear.) And it was funny to see Gere's house in the movie as being next to a lake/pond? HAHAHAHA. Ain't nothing going on like that within walking distance of downtown Woonsocket. Maybe a small duck pond somewhere but that's it. lol

My only quibble with the movie is the wife character. She's kind of an unlikable character but it's never explained WHY she's like that. (If you watch this movie, you'll see what I mean.)